ZEUS: Wilted Roses
by GuardianAlpha103
Summary: What did happen to the fabled Summer Rose? Her disappearance has no real answer, a body wasn't found, and the family just assumed she was dead. But one fateful stormy night while out on mission Ruby falls out of their transport into what the team believes the ocean below. What really happened is she fell into the one place where she might find some answers about her mother. Altis.
1. Chapter 1: Welcome Tourist!

**=ZEUS: WILTED ROSES=**

 _What did happen to the fabled Summer Rose? Her disappearance has no real answer, a body wasn't found, and the family just assumed she was dead. But one fateful stormy night while out on mission Ruby falls out of their transport into what the team believes the ocean below. What really happened is she fell into the one place where she might find some answers about her mother. Altis._

 **A/N I want to say this now, this is a test story, nothing here will correlate to any stories I will write in the future except maybe setting and techniques used. This is an Arma 3 Zeus hybrid in case you're wondering. For those of you that don't know, Zeus is a game mode that allows the player to spawn either limited or countless soldiers and equipment and control/command them. This story will contain a modified form of Zeus on the Republic of Altis and Stratis. Arma 3 and Zeus Game Mode are the property of Bohemia Interactive and RWBY is the property of Rooster Teeth Animation.**

 **Please Enjoy.**

 **(EDIT 10/16) Story was heavily edited with Grammarly for better experience**

* * *

 **Over the South Ocean  
March 7th, 22:36 Hours**

Rain pelted the front windscreen of the Bullhead as pilot and co-pilot trudged on through the storm which seemed to crop up out of nowhere. Lighting flashed in the thick dark clouds at random, their thunder rocking the vessel as it flew. In the back compartment sitting in the uncomfortable fold-out chairs was team RWBY, freshest graduates of Beacon Academy, looking exhausted after having just finished their latest mission on the southernmost tip of the Mistral continent.

While the Bullhead offered little to no comfort what-so-ever, the team was grateful it wasn't the cold hard ground again. Weiss had all but collapsed in her seat when they boarded and was out like a light, Yang was less graceful, sprawled out over two of the spaces as opposed to one.

Ruby and Blake were the only two up; Blake somewhat acclimated to the conditions they faced from her time in the White Fang and thus adjusted well to their sleeping arrangements on a mission. Ruby was just… Ruby. Her semblance and natural bounciness made it hard for her to keep still in one place and provided her with a little extra kick to stay awake. Both of them busied themselves with what they had.

Blake sat and read one of her books, eyes skimming the page at an incredible rate while Ruby took the time to clean and maintain her prized weapon. The storm they flew through adding a sort of ambiance to the scene with the rolling thunder and sound of rain over the engines, the aircraft occasionally jolting in the turbulence and rumbling din of the storm.

Everything was normal; nothing extreme or essential was going on, just the team getting a bit rest on their flight home before they would take a well-deserved break from mission going. And then suddenly a bolt of lightning struck the Bullhead and made it jolt so hard that Yang and Weiss woke up, the yellow themed girl falling from her 'bed' onto the floor with a yelp. An onboard alarm in the control console was blaring, and the pilots were doing their best to try and get a grip on the situation.

"What was that? What's going on?!" Weiss yelled at the pilots, dazed and confused after her rude awakening.

"We've been hit by lighting Miss Schnee; we're trying to bring the craft lower to avoid another strike."

Ruby, ever the so opportunistic one, tried to make light of the situation "Don't worry Weiss; I'm sure they have everything on control."  
It was at this point that Murphy and his law decided to change that as another bolt struck the Bullhead, right on Ruby and Weiss' side with enough force to knock everyone out of their seats and concuss the co-pilot.

The magnetic release to the side door on that side of the craft malfunctioned in the surge of electricity, and so the door flew open in the winds, depressurizing the whole aircraft. The team screamed as they scrambled to hold onto whatever they could grab, Ruby not being as lucky as she slid across the floor towards her doom before her sister jumped to the other side and grabbed her arm just as she would've flown out the craft.

"HANG ON RUBY!" Yang yelled over the howling winds.

"SHUT THE DOOR! SHUT THE DOOR!" yelled Blake as her book flew out the opening into the inky blackness.

"I AM TRYING!" the only remaining pilot yelled back while he wrestled with his Bullhead, trying to regain control over the surge which more than fried many onboard systems.

Yang grunted and struggled to pull her sister in, her other arm wrapped around the seat Ruby sat in to lock her in place and keep her from flying out as well. Ruby was screaming and yelling trying to pull herself in on Yang's arm, Weiss doing her best to reach for her partner and pull her and Yang back inside.

But Murphy wasn't done, that was just the prologue, next came the crescendo. Crescent Rose, which had been lodged in its closed function between the seats, flew out in the wind and hit Ruby knocking her off Yang's arm.

"NO! RUBY! RUBY!" Yang's voice echoed.

Ruby screamed over the torrential winds and pouring rain to what she presumed to be a watery death in the ocean below. Naturally, her Aura activated as she fell, a reaction that was burned into her subconscious after years of training it, which would soften the blow enough for her to survive the fall but not swim the whole way to land.

Although Ruby did expect to hit the relatively softer surface of water she didn't. Her scream was cut short abruptly as her body smacked against something hard right on edge, so she continued to fall until she hit the dirt. Groaning from the impact which all but shattered her Aura, she tried to get back up only to fall back down, unconscious.

* * *

 **Military Patrol, near Neochori Altis  
March 8th, 0921 Hours**

On the very outskirts of northern Neochori, slowly rumbling down the highway was a desert colored military Hummer with a mounted gun. It was a standard military patrol for the area, intended to keep the peace and help local authorities, pretty average for the region they were in.

This patrol, in particular, was due to get off of rotation soon and the soldiers operating the massive machine were glad for it. Two hours of jumping from town to town in full battle rattle while in the sweltering heat of summer, even though it did rain, was not something any of the three soldiers wanted.

It was only nine in the morning and any of the puddles from last night's dense storm were already dried up, their remnants gone. It did make the driver's job easier, no pools to slip and slide on and so the ride was a lot smoother for them.  
"So did you hear about Stratis?" The driver asked his shotgun companion.

The Grenadier private, Cole Hughes, turned from his view of the rolling land to look at his fellow private "You mean the disconnection? Yeah, I heard, the whole SatCom went down between us and our little sister island. Didn't we lose Malden too?" To which the driver shook his head "Nah, Malden is still up. Brass is calling it a total communication failure and is flying out a specialist to get a read on the problem. Least that's what I heard."

The Grenadier scoffed and chuckled "You hear everything Boon," he addressed the driver, a one Private Tyler 'Boon' Dogg "I wouldn't be surprised if you somehow knew where Zeus takes a shit each time." Cole said sarcastically. "In his house, right?" Boon innocently answered.

"Smartass."

"You know it." Boon shot back with a chuckle.

"You two sound like a damn married couple." Their patrol leader Corporal Tom Salt called from the mounted fifty calibers.

"Thanks, Corporal. But that makes your third wheel." Cole yelled out the window over the draft

"Ouch Private, that one stung," Tom said putting a hand over his heart in mock hurt.  
"More than that last date when she slapped you?" Boon asked.

"Hey now, let's not bring your mom into this," Tom replied.

That got a loud round of laughing between all the soldiers in the Hummer. When the laughter died down, Cole returned to looking out the window as they passed by the decently sized town of Neochori and headed for the next. But just as they were going to clear the city, something caught the Grenadier's eye, enough for him to do a double take. "Stop the Humvee!" he called urgently, Boon got startled and slammed on the break as they swerved off the road almost.

"What is it?!" Tom asked from above "Backup to that construction site!" Cole almost yelled. Boon didn't want to argue and just threw the vehicle into reverse and slammed on the accelerator, driving the vehicle back "STOP there!" Cole yelled, and suddenly the Hummer ground to a halt again.

Cole was pointing to a figure on the ground, one he only just managed to catch a glimpse of. "Holy shit…" Tom said while Cole didn't waste time and jumped out of the truck, running over to the red-clad form.

Tom was first to follow, not bothering to crawl out the Hummer and just leaping out of the gun mount and hopping off the roof to the ground. He was quick to be by Cole's side, while Boon remained in the Hummer, grabbing the onboard radio.

"Break, break. Crossroads, Crossroads this is Foxtrot 7-7 outside Neochori do you copy? Over." he said in a calm yet urgent tone.

" _This is Crossroads, over_."

"We got a Whiskey Charlie North side of the city, Grid ref 124145. By the looks of her, she's a Tourist. Requesting immediate Medevac, how copy, over?"

" _Read you five by five, Helo is being prepped, ETA eight minutes. Request you photo emblems if present and facial for the suits in the Tourist Dept. Copy over?_ "

"Solid copy Foxtrot out." Boon finished, clicking the radio back into place before rushing to meet his fellow soldiers as they examined the girl.

While Boon got on the horn to contact command, Cole was first to rush over to the prone girl and carefully flip her with the help of the Corporal. "Jesus Christ above, she looks like she fell out of a plane," Cole said looking at her state.

"I think she did," Tom said and pointed to a desolate piece of unfinished wall above them on the unfinished building stained by a splatter of blood.

"Oh my God… Tom, get the kit from the truck, I'll try and stabilize her with my FAK."

Tom nodded and rushed back to the rear of the truck and popped the hatch, looking for the combat medical kit that came standard with patrol vehicles. But just as Tom left him, the girl chose then to wake up and begin breathing quickly as her mind began to process the pain. He doubted she could see through the bloody dirt that was caked on her face, but Cole knew he needed to calm her or she could start thrashing around and potentially hurt herself more than she already was.

"Hey, hey, hey," he said in a calming tone even though he was trying not to panic as he had no experience in either advanced combat medical care or handling wounded civilians, aka Whiskey Charlies. He was, for lack of a better term winging it.

"I need you to calm down for me, please; I don't want you to hurt yourself any further. Do you understand?"

The girl whimpered a bit and tried to squirm, probably not even hearing him, to begin with, "Hey, come on now, calm down shhh. Everything will be ok." He tried stroking her dirty, matted hair to try and soothe her, and it worked to a degree.

She stopped squirming at least making it less stressful on Cole as he got out his small yellow First Aid Kit and began treating her to a degree, trying to stabilize her. Tom soon returned with the much larger and better equipped Medical Kit.

"Is she awake?!" He asked surprised, and Cole only nodded, taking her hand and squeezing it comfortingly "Lord above, the pain she must be feeling… it's amazing the shock didn't set in."

"Don't Jinx it, I'd rather her be awake, so we know we aren't just treating a corpse," Cole said.

Tom shook his head absentmindedly and began his treatment, being more experienced in combat medical care than his subordinate. As he did this, Cole did his best to calm the girl down to try and make treating her easier. While she was unconscious for however long she was, that was gone now, and she was beginning to panic as her natural instinct kicked into high gear. Cole offered her kind words and a hand to hold while Tom worked.

"Hey, listen, everything is going to be alright. Can you tell me your name?" Cole asked and received in turn. "R-Rr…Ru… R-Ruby…" the red themed girl managed to croak out in a harsh and beaten voice.

"Ruby. That's a nice name. Mine is Cole. Where are you from Ruby?" At this point, Cole was trying to take her mind off of the fact she could potentially be bleeding out right now. "P-P-P….P-Patch… V-V-V-Vale…." Ruby said. "Sounds like a nice place."

The back and forth went on for a while until they were interrupted by Boon who slid by Tom to relay the radio message "Bird's in the air, ETA Eight mikes. Cross wants emblems if she's got 'em, facial too so the TDs can see if they dig up something."

Cole looked to his comrade and back to the girl "Her name is Ruby," he gave her hand a light squeeze "I'll wash her face off for the picture, give me one of those bandages." Cole asked of the Corporal who handed him a clean-ish one, the blood on his hands staining the white cloth a bit. Cole took out some bottled water he was saving and popped the cap, pouring it over her face to clear the thin blood, using the bandage to clean the thick clotted blood.

With the veil of crimson lifted from her eyes, Ruby was able to see again and was able to see the face of the person she was talking to. The last thing she was expecting was a young man in a uniform she had never seen before, but her mind was more focused on the fact that she could see again, eyes twitching around looking at everything from the other slightly older man treating her to the building

beside them.

Cole looked into her silver colored eyes, natural and beautiful, but did not dally; he set the dirtied bandage and bottle aside and pulled out a Tac-pad. Snapping a quick picture of her face and, after a quick look at her outfit, the rose emblem on her belt and sent them to the Tourist Dept. for analyses. Once that task was complete he began to comfort Ruby again, getting her full attention while Tom did his work.

Unbeknownst to the Grenadier Private, the message he just sent to the TD would start a chain of events that would lead to the most world-changing event that Remnant has seen since the Great War.

* * *

 **Kavala Altis  
March 8th, 0730 Hours (Two hours before Ruby is found)**

The day was upon us, the sun already in the sky and the early risers of the city already bustling about like always, going to work or out in the harbor to bring back fish, an average morning to a typical day. But one man was still in bed, snoring rather loudly with much agape as he slumbered, undisturbed even as the sun shone its light directly on his face.

That is, he would have been undisturbed if the blaring noise of his bedside clock alarm decided to wake him, just as it did every morning.

The man's hand came down on the offending digital device and silenced it with a loud click, groaning as he was forced to finally get up despite having a slightly tiring day he had the day before when he was up late at night trying to figure out why contact was lost with his second island. Yes, his island.

The man that is currently sitting on the edge of his bed in boxers and a tee shirt rubbing the remaining drowsiness from his eyes was the commander and chief of the Atlas-Stratis Coalition, a man by the name of Marcus Harrison. Mark, as most of his close friends know him by, stood up from his bed and shuffled over the somewhat blandish looking bedroom to the large bathroom on one end of the room to complete his morning routine.

He looked at his tanned, young look in the mirror and the light seven o'clock shadow that covered his chin. Every morning he was amazed at himself in the mirror; despite being several centuries old, he was still young looking and fit as the average twenty-year-old. Perks of eternal life as he always said.

Diligently he shaved, showered, did his business (not in that particular order) and went to get dressed in a blue polo and khakis alongside his usual combat boots. Once he was dressed, he went downstairs to get ready for a meeting he was having in less than an hour, a formality between his heads of state and the Citizen Council leaders from around Altis.

When he reached the kitchen his housemate and personal guard, who merely went as Seth to everyone, was already making a quick breakfast of some simple omelets for the two of them. Mark sat at the dining table in the room uttering a simple good morning to the stout, older looking man that served him an easy omelet.

Mark quickly began to eat the meal while Seth and prepared his own meal which, for reasons Mark can still not fully explain, was an MRE like every morning. Mark knew few soldiers who would willingly eat the freeze-dried meals as regular meals, but he put his mind past it, there were more important things to think about. Like what was going to do to explain to the Civilian Council why contact with Stratis was lost yesterday. Mark couldn't really understand why SatCom was cut between the two islands and the Council was going to want answers why it happened, answers he didn't have.

He sighed as he finished half his meal "Jesus, I don't know what I'm going to do…" he said. Seth looked to his close friend, and commander "You're talking about the SatCom crash, aren't you." He stated more than asked, Mark only nodded with another sigh.  
"Council is going to want answers about it, and we still don't know why. The system was built with fail-safes to prevent this sort of thing and not a single one activated." Mark said, "I just don't understand…"

"Maybe it was a power failure, not a system failure?" Seth offered, and Mark nodded  
"I hope it's that simple. I'm more stressed that the Tech I sent didn't contact back yet about the problem, I need his opinion about the problem, so I have something concrete to take to the Council, especially the prick Cather, he'll ride my ass if I don't give him anything."

Seth nodded at the mention of the infamous Head of Community Infrastructure; the man had clinical OCD to a tee, and if anything went wrong in the system he got pissy about it. He would definitely be a pain in Mark's side.  
"I guess I can deal with it for now… The tech'll call me when he's finished probably. Let's just bite the bullet and get it over with. Gear up, we're leaving in ten."

Mark quickly finished his meal along with Seth who promptly cleared up and went to get into uniform while Mark went to grab the necessities - ID Badge, Sidearm, a pocket knife, things he usually took with him every day. He left the house soon after, Seth already waiting in his guard uniform which consisted of a white polo with black slacks, black tactical vest, cap with a headset, and an AR15 rifle as a primary.

He and two other Guards in similar apparel walked to a motorcade and got aboard, the five-vehicle convoy starting its journey to the other side of Kavala to meet with all the Heads, the ride mostly silent save for small talk Mark made with Seth and his men. Some time passed, and they arrived outside the building where the meeting would be taking place.

Mark and his guards entered the building mentally preparing themselves for the trials they'd face today.

* * *

 **(Two hours and ten minutes later)**

"Listen, Mr. Cather, for the last time, I have elected to take care of the issue with the SatCom relay myself and have already sent a specialist to take care of it," Mark said, repeating himself what must have been the umpteenth time that morning.

"That is not what I'm asking Chief Harrison, I'm asking what the problem with the relay was not how you intend to fix it. Will this happen again? Can we prevent it? I need details Chief Harrison so we can better avoid this in the future." Jonas Cather said in response. Mark wasn't the only one to sigh in exasperation, his Head of Defense and Head of Logistics both join him, with one actually facepalming at the Counselor's ridiculous obsession about it.

But by the grace of God, there was some sort of solace in this cluster fuck of a meeting, of course, nobody really expected it. One of Mark's guards burst into the room panting like he had run a marathon and gave a curt salute "At ease," Mark said in a worried tone "What is it, soldier? You look like Hell."  
The soldier, unable to really speak as he was still trying to catch his breath just handed his superior a slip of paper with the Tourist Department's emblem printed in the lower corner of the page.

Mark just elected to read the paper as opposed to asking why the soldier had rushed to give him a report in the middle of a meeting, especially one from a place that usually handled affairs on their own. They had all the authority and means to their disposal to deal with any problem that may arise, so something like this was a far cry.

But as Mark read more and more of the document in his hand, the more and more his expression from surprise to outright shock. "When did you get this?" He asked urgently "It was sent over a few minutes ago." Mark turned to the rest of the people in the room "I'm sorry everyone but we are going to have to cut this meeting short, something more urgent has come up that requires my attention."

Before any of the men in the room could raise their voice in question, or in Cather's case complain, Mark was out the door, the man who delivered the note rushing to catch up with him. They both leave the building, two other Zeus Guards joining him. "Meeting done already Sir?" Seth, who was waiting by the motorcade outside, asked Mark.

"No Seth, something significant has come to my attention through the Tourist Department, and we need to leave immediately. Take us to the nearest Heliport and have a transport ready to take us wherever we need."

Seth didn't need to know anymore and just nodded, he wasn't about the question his superior, even if the two of them were close friends, to begin with. Seth opened the door to the SUV for Mark and got in the driver seat when Mark was seated; the other guards got in the other two vehicles of the motorcade.

Seth began to drive deeper into the heart of Kavala looking for a place which fits Mark's needs. Immediately the Hospital came to mind, the helipad there was vacant most of the time, all he needed was a bird.

Seth grabbed the SUVs on board Radio "This is Rolling Thunder to any loose air transport near Kavala Hospital, Zeus is in desperate need of a-" Seth continued speaking over the radio as they drove trying to requisition a craft. Mark tapped the shoulder of the soldier in shotgun "Get the SAT phone out of the glove box and get me the ATC at the International Airport, tell them it's urgent." The soldier didn't need more prompt and did as he was asked.

" _This is Eagle Seven moving two teams for a training exercise on the_ 'Freedom' _we are able to divert and re-task at Zeus's discretion, how copy over?_ "

"Read you clear Eagle Seven, re-task and meet us at the LZ on top of Kavala Hospital, out." Seth finished, clicking the handheld back into the set and refocusing on the road. Meanwhile, the soldier held the SAT phone out to Mark "It's the flight manager sir."

Mark nodded and took the phone, pointing the speaker down to his shoulder to block the listener from hearing "Seth, get back on the Radio and get the facility on the line. Tell them they have an incoming patient and to be ready for our arrival as well as theirs."

"Yes, sir." Seth picked up the radio and Mark got back to his SAT phone and got the Flight manager to switch the flight which would be transporting the patient to head to the other coordinates. The rest of the drive was like this, Seth on the radio organizing things and Mark on the phone getting people ready for their latest guest.

It was a slur of talking and giving orders, chatter on the radio filling the car with a certain buzz and the muffled voices on the phone adding to that, the only silent person in the message being the guard in shotgun who sat stoically.

Finally, after driving through the town center, they arrived at the Hospital parking lot and parked away from the ambulances and staff cars to not block them, people that were bustling along in the lot, some paramedics pushing a stretcher with a patient even slowing a bit to gawk at Mark's arrival. Mark and Seth disembarking with the other guard and heading to the exterior staircase to head up, the rest of the motorcade remaining where they parked to either wait for their commanders return or the order to stand down.

It only took a moment for everyone to begin hearing that telltale 'thump-thump' of the distant helicopter blades, the sound soon turning into a roar as the Blackhawk designated Eagle Seven quickly approached the landing pad and set down.

At the same time, the chopper landed, and a team of US Marines disembarked to make room, Zeus and his entourage went it to the roof and briskly made their way to the awaiting Blackhawk, the Marines saluting him as he passed.

Before Mark and the others boarded, he addressed the Team Leader "Take my SUV back to the motor pool and tell my mean to resume their normal duties, after you are relieved of duty for the day! Dismissed!" Mark had to yell over the sound of the helicopter. The Marine saluted, which Mark returned "Yes sir!" and with that, the team of four rushed off the roof.

Mark, Seth, and the other guard boarded the bird which quickly took off and began to move to its new objective. "Where are we heading sir?" the pilot asked over the PA "The Research Compound to the Northeast, a landing zone should be marked for you." Seth had answered.

The pilot only nodded and slightly altered the course of the flight, flying fast to account for the urgency in which the matter was portrayed. The speed at which they were traveling, they'd reach their destination in an only minutes time.

This gave Mark the chance to think briefly how he was going to handle the situation. I mean, it's not every day the child of your Priority Project drops from the sky.

* * *

 **(Fifteen minutes ago, airspace above Altis)**

Cole was still holding the hand of Ruby as the chopper flew quickly to a nearby emergency care center where she'd be handed off. Cole was along to give a statement and relay her status upon his team's arrival.

The rest of his team stayed behind to wait for a cleanup and relief team that would sweep the site and clean up after the accident. But in all seriousness, Cole should have been with them, the whole relay of information thing could have been done later with the paperwork. Tom had granted him permission to tag along using the task as an excuse in case anyone asked questions.

Cole was happy his friend let him do this.  
He didn't know why he felt like riding with the strange, semi-conscious girl, but he did it anyway. It was a gut feeling, and there is no sense in arguing with a gut feeling. Suddenly the entire craft jerked a bit to the right and leaned "Hey, what's going on?" Cole asked.

"Change of plans, Flight Manager told us to change course. Said it was a direct order from the top."

Cole was confused "Did they say who gave the ordered?"

"Yeah. Zeus, our Commander and Chief." Was the Pilot's reply. Cole was shocked at the news, why would Zeus want to get involved in such a matter, it was small in comparison to things he usually had to deal with. What about this situation made it so critical to such a person like their leader. Cole continued to ponder this as the bird flew Northeast towards its new destination.

Cole didn't know what to do, he was now caught in something he wasn't sure he could handle, and it could very well backfire in his face. I mean, Zeus, an actual god among men has gotten himself involved in this. What was Cole gonna do? Guess the simple Grenadier would just have to bite his tongue when the need comes and hope it turns out for him in the end.

After a short period, Cole could actually see the impromptu landing zone created by the soldiers of the sizeable looking base which Cole had only read about during training. It was some Research center that was the center of almost all technological advancement for Zeus's territories. From medical to advanced weapons, nearly all of it came out of there, the rest coming from a more extensive facility near the International Airport.

Cole still gripped the hand of the girl as the MEV Blackhawk set down and the side door was opened by one of the combat medics that arrived with the bird. They pulled the stretcher out with the help of the men on the ground, rushing it towards the gates of the facility, Cole still there doing his best to keep the girl from freaking out by keeping a familiar face nearby.

Soon, however, Cole had to step away and let the professionals do their work, the Private watching as the half-dozen combat medics and facility doctors pushed carried her into a large building, presumably for surgery or examination.

Just as she disappeared inside, Cole heard a very authoritative voice yell "You there!" Cole turned and the blood drained from his face upon seeing who called out. Zeus was there with his personal guards, and he was staring directly at him. Cole, instincts kicking in suddenly, snapped into a salute as opposed to openly sobbing at his bad luck. "Yes, sir!" The Private yelled out.

Zeus approached him until he was a few feet away "At ease Private. We're you the one to discover the Whiskey Charlie that was just taken inside?" he asked pointing to the building.

"Sir, yes sir!" Cole answered in his 'soldier voice' while sweating profusely and somewhat dying on the inside.

"Congratulations Soldier, You have just been promoted to Sergeant and are being reassigned."

"…What… sir?" Cole mumbled, severely confused.

"When that girl wakes up, I want her to be in familiar company. From what I saw when you got off the chopper holding her hand, you fit the bill. As such I'm assigning you to her as protective detail. You'll be given access to any resources and gear you want and have pick for your squad. I expect you and your new squad here before the Tourist is out of examination and treatment, ask the base Commander here-" Zeus gestured to an officer that was nearby "-for anything you need to get that done. Am I clear?"

"Crystal sir…" Cole said, still processing the fact he just got what essentially a field promotion by Zeus himself.

"Good," Zeus began to walk away "Oh, and well done handling the situation, you did very well from what I've seen so far. Keep up the good work, Sergeant."

Cole said nothing as Zeus turned again and walked off leaving Cole to stew in the new information he was just given…

His friends are not going to believe a single thing that just happened…


	2. Chapter 2: Reunion

**Patch, Vale Coast  
June 19th, 08:23 Hours**

Yang couldn't begin to describe what she felt, there was no possible way. She felt the same thing when she lost her mother and again when she lost her second mother. She was beginning to slip back, and it was starting to show outwardly. Blake had even sacrificed being with her parents to spend extra time with her. Yang could sense her partner just staring at her from her secluded spot outside Yang's room. But after a while with working with Blake, the yellow-haired huntress had gotten good at spotting her partner when she hid.

Blake had a heart stricken look on her face; she was upset that Yang felt the way she did. Her father was worse; he even hit the bottle one night and nearly ate the business end of his own weapon. Qrow, being the caring uncle he was, had slipped in just before Tai could actually do it. Yang didn't know about that though, only Blake who walked in on the two just as Qrow stepped in. She made it pointedly clear the Yang was not to know about what her father wanted to do.

Qrow decided to forgo his Huntsman duties to look after his family and make sure they remain intact long enough for the cloud of depression to finally clear… if it ever would. Blake was doing the same, but for her partner. Weiss would be doing the same if it weren't for the fact her bastard of a father was keeping her at the house to make sure she doesn't slip into a depression. In reality, it was just to keep appearances.

Just the aspect of Weiss's father and her total lack of support from her mother who was also rumored to be abused by Mr. Schnee, made Blake's blood boil. She genuinely cared for the heiress, mainly because Weiss was one of the few that tolerated her as a Faunus and treated her like an actual person. The only others she knew treated her like that were a few others of their graduating class and the rest of her team.

Blake shut the door and sighed quietly. Yang had barely left her room, just sitting in bed wearing only her pajamas and staring out the window to the forest below. She scarcely ate, only really got up to take care of her hygiene – which was also lacking, to be honest – or to use the bathroom. Blake was sure that Yang hadn't even changed her clothes since they all got back after the months searching for Ruby in the ocean… or on the beaches where she could've washed up…

Blake's ears were folded back as she descended the stairs and saw Tai, in a similar state to his eldest daughter just staring at the TV which was off. Qrow stood in the kitchen, arms resting on the counter. He didn't take Ruby's loss to lightly either, Blake barely knew him but knew about his drinking problem. And judging by how he smelt with her Faunus senses, he reeked like he had drunk a lot more than he usually does. His blood alcohol level might be enough to actually start the lawnmower out back. Despite this, he still took his signature flask from where he kept it and downed a swig of whatever alcoholic contents were inside.

Blake's frown deepened "She still hasn't moved…" she told him. Qrow stopped drinking and sighed. "I figured…" was his only response.

"She was like this when her mother first disappeared," Qrow said after a short pause "She slipped into a similar state… she was too young to process the loss properly… But Ruby and Yang were close, closer than Yang was with her mother, and she's a lot older now, we can't just tell her everything will be alright and give an ice cream, that won't work now…"

Blake nodded and sat at the table, just staring at its wooden surface. She didn't know what to do, she hadn't dealt with this sort of thing before and was stuck with the knowledge that she couldn't help even if she tried. While Blake pondered on it more, Qrow made to take another swig from his flask before there was a knock at the front door. "I'll get it…" Blake said sadly, getting up and walking to the front door and opening it. When she opened the door, she was greeted by the familiar sight of a Vale special courier in uniform and letter bag slung over his shoulder.

She didn't even get to speak before the man handed her a plain white envelope, the only distinctive feature on its bland white surface being the symbol of an eye with a lightning bolt striking through the iris, something that did peak Blake's interest.

"Letter for you ma'am." Blake looked at him confused as she took it, looking down to try and ascertain where it came from "Um…. Who is this fr-" she didn't even finish her question for when she looked up the courier was gone, no trace he was also there… like he seemed to vanish into thin air.

Blake looked around, severally confused before looking back down at the letter. The whole situation just screamed bad news, her years of both huntsman training and being a member of the White Fang just sending up red flags in her head.

Deep down she knew she should've looked harder, pressed the courier for more answers about where the letter came from and who or what sent it to her. She blamed how distracted she was with Ruby's loss as well as the effects it had on her leader's family and the rest of the team. Her mind was so out of it that she just slipped.

She brought the said letter back inside and into the kitchen, just staring at it the whole time. She thought that maybe opening the message would help, it was all she could do at the moment, she wasn't about to up and leave to go track down one man who was probably long gone. "Who was it?" Qrow asked as she re-entered the kitchen.

"A very strange Courier from the Vale service… he just gave me this," she held up the letter and shook it a bit "Then up and disappeared before I could ask him anything… I thought for a moment that I should track him down and press him for answers, but I didn't want to just… leave… not when Yang is like this…" She was completely honest, no sense in lying. Heck, maybe it was Weiss sneaking out a letter under her father's nose, and she just didn't want to be caught? But then why the strange symbol?

Feeling that she wasn't going to get much more from the outside of the envelope, she just opened it and pulled out the letter. It was a mostly blank page, only the same icon at the top middle and a short message in the direct center that made Blake's eyes go full and drop the page.

Qrow took notice "What is it Blake?" he asked while taking a step closer and picking up the paper, taking a look at its contents. He had a similar, albeit less shocked, look on his face as he clutched the paper in his hand.

What the note read was simple and had the address for the Bullhead port on the island and time as well as a message meant for more than their party. The same message that was being sent by letter to the lovely heiress of the Schnee Dust Company.

* * *

 **Schnee Family Estate, Atlas  
June 19th, 08:24 Hours**

Weiss felt awful, in more ways than one. For one, she felt utterly horrible she couldn't be there for her partner's sister; a person whose life was virtually destroyed when Ruby fell out of that Bullhead during the storm. And the other, she was severely depressed.

Nobody knew this, not even Ruby herself, but Weiss had a massive crush on the loveable dork who was most likely lying under the ocean in a permanent rest. When Ruby flew out of the Bullhead, a part of Weiss's brain had a short and shut down. Her rational mind, the one she spent building up for years under her father's gaze, put a façade almost immediately after and she shut the world out. When her father ordered her to stay, she didn't argue, when the press came knocking to ask questions about Ruby's death, she barely answered.

That's another matter altogether, the press and journalist that got wind of Ruby's death. Being under the scrutiny of the media, every single decent journalist knew that she and Ruby were partners. Word spread through hearsay and rumors, and soon they found their way to her front door looking for answers. Even now, months after her death, they are still trying to get her to answer questions or to give a valid statement as opposed to half-truths and vague answers.

Her family – well the ones in her family that cared – tried to get through to her from a very long time, but her mind put up a wall that nothing could tear down with any semblance of ease. She was like Yang… except instead of losing her sister, who General Ironwood was gracious enough to offer leave when news spread to them, she suffered the loss of a love. That type of heartbreak did things to a person. Tai Yang was one of them, having lost two. They're the type of people that had thoughts of joining their loved ones in the afterlife.

As dignified and first class as Weiss was, that did not stop these same thoughts from surfacing, and so she sat at her vanity in her room, her weapon gathering dust in the corner while she wrote yet another note to her family explaining everything she was going through and why she was making the decision. Only it would even get to be finished like the many others before it when she crumpled the paper up in a fit of frustration and tossed it in the overflowing trash bin off to the side.

While she was able to keep up her façade for the most part, especially in public – God forbid what her father would say if she broke down in the presence of the media, there were times that her true feelings came out.

And she cried.

She sobbed and wailed, not afraid that anyone would hear her, often crying herself to sleep at night because she lost one of the only things in this world that she cared about more than anything. The one thing she cared about more than her family name, her money, and not to mention that the one thing cared back. Ruby cared so much about Weiss.

She couldn't count how many times Ruby stopped what she was doing to listen to what Weiss had to say, to be there for her when nobody else would or could be. It's one of the reasons that Weiss fell in love with Ruby, to begin with. Not only that she was cute, but her dorkiness and shining opportunism were also like a light in the darkness of this world.

Weiss continued to sob and cry, throwing all of her decorum out the window with the façade she wore, right now Weiss wished she could grab hold of her quirky red-clad dork and everything would be better, but she couldn't no matter how much she so desperately needed it. She was so engrossed with planting her face in her arms against the hardwood of the vanity she didn't notice her butler and close friend Klein poke his head in.

"Madam Weiss? Are you alright?" Klein asked.

"*Sniff* Yes Klein…" Weiss re-composed herself and faced one of her only true friends, even if he wasn't in her age group. "Was there something Father needed?"

Surprising to Weiss, Klein shook his head, that's really the only thing Klein would intentionally walk in without being called. More to her surprise he produced a letter, one that looked rather bland and uninteresting, only a company logo from some company called Olympic Industries. She recognized the name, a small time company which doesn't publicize itself, but still, attends events her father invites them to.

She took the letter and opened it. Inside were a lengthy legal document and a summons to someplace in vale about a legal case she had never heard of yet somehow she had her name all over it. It was for anonymous testifying against the defendant involved with whatever case it was, the details were vague, almost as if the case itself was made up.

"Who gave you this Klein?" Weiss asked, a lingering amount of her emotions from before edging into her voice.

"It was a courier from the local service, ma'am. He didn't say much before taking off. He looked like he was in a hurry." Weiss was confused. It was multiple documents stabled together, and when she flipped over the first page to continue reading a small business card fell out with a symbol of an eye with lightning striking through the eye on the one side.

She picked up the card and flipped it over; gasping quietly when she read what was on the back. "What is it madam Weiss?" Klein asked concerned. Weiss shook her head "I-it's nothing, please… can you leave me for a second?" She asked hurriedly. Klein was skeptical; however, he didn't ask about it further and took his leave, letting Weiss be with the card and the documents.

The reason Weiss was so shocked at what she read was that deep down her heart leaped into her chest and was beating so fast she felt like it was about to burst out of her ribs. She sat back on her bed, hands shaking and eyes full of tears. Some dripped onto the card. But these were not tears of heartbroken sadness, but tears of quiet elation.

On the back of the card was a short explanation for the legal documents, a way to get her away from her father without rising to many questions and to make sure he would decide to follow. Next, it had the address of a private Airport outside of Atlas owned by Olympic Industries and a time she should show up. Followed by this was a message. The message was short and to the point, and it filled Weiss's heart with more hope than she could ever imagine.

' _We found Ruby. She's alive._ '

* * *

 **Unknown Location, Altis  
June 21st, Unknown time**

Pain.

It was the first thing Ruby felt upon finally waking up from the coma. She felt like her body went a few rounds as her sister's punching bag. Or rather the multiple punching bags that her brawler of a sister actually goes through in one session. She groans and tried to move, finding that even opening her eyes took a considerable amount of effort. She could feel her body wrapped nearly head to toe in bandages, one of her arms also in a splint.

It didn't take some excellent observation to tell she was in a hospital of sorts, but none of the equipment in the room was stuff she was familiar with. She should know, during her time in Beacon she had her fair share of visits to the school nurse office which in actuality was a hospital on school grounds. Kind of a necessity when you school several thousand student warriors.

Alien-like technology aside, she looked around the room some, a part of her trying to figure out exactly where she was. To the side was Crescent Rose in even better condition than she had it in (which was hard to do because of all the moving parts), the sniper scythe in its folded mode sitting inside a particularly special looking carry case of sorts. Next, to that, we're here clothes, also in perfect condition; her cloak was even hanging nicely on a coat rack using a hanger. It looked dry cleaned as well.

The room was pretty much the same as she remembered from the time she spent at Beacon's hospital. The smell of the sterile air and bleached white floors, the single hospital bed surrounded by equipment, bland furniture and a fake plant to make it feel comfortable. Yep, it was definitely the type of hospital room she remembered. Except with the strange, unknown equipment. Except for one thing, the ASD, or Aura Stabilization Device

She was hooked up to that, an IV and EKG which was the standard for a patient under care, and dressed in a hospital gown to cover her modesty. As she was checking to see what exactly was bandaged - a civilized way of saying she was checking herself out - when a female nurse in mint colored scrubs walked in with a clipboard. Ruby looked up from looking down her gown as saw the surprised look on the nurse's face. Before Ruby could utter even a hello, the nurse stepped back out and shut the door.

She could hear the nurse speaking to someone on the other side, and after a moment a man dressed in what she could only describe as some form of militaristic uniform peaked his head in and shut the door again. There were more talking, and the man opened the door again holding a file, his weapon slung over his shoulder. He wasn't alone; a man dressed in similar, green digital camouflage equipment stepped in behind him as well as the nurse.

The nurse stepped to the side and began to examine the equipment, not even making eye contact with Ruby who was staring at her the whole time. "Um… hello." the red reaper offered, her voice sounding tired because of her state.

"Hello Miss Rose, if I'm to be assuming correctly." the greeting didn't come from the nurse who she addressed, but the soldier with the file "Do you recognize me?"

She took a good look at the man, examining his strange body armor and unique camo pattern as well as the features on his face. Finally, it clicked.

"Y… you're the one who... helped me after I fell."

He nodded "Yes… how are you feeling?"

"Still sore I'll admit..." Ruby said with a look of brief pain on her face.

Cole nodded "That's ok, now that you're awake, we can start a morphine drip which should help. I'm actually glad you woke up today, from what I heard before coming in your family and friends have just arrived. Would you like to see them?"

Despite being in the state she was, Ruby still managed to nod vigorously when Cole asked her the question, and Cole turned to the other soldier he walked in with "See miss Rose's visitors in… and contact Zeus to report her status as well as the arrival of the said guest." The soldier nodded "Yes Sergeant, I'll get Boon to contact Zeus and immediately make my way to the visitor lounge." Tom saluted his new superior, which to this day was still strange to do, and walked out without another word to say, relaying the contact order to Boon who stood on the other side of the door.

Cole then stepped out with a polite farewell, and the nurse spoke up, asking Ruby various medical questions such as allergies, and if she had previous injuries, they could accidentally agitate. Ruby answered each one happily; all giddied up when she learned her family was already here to see her. Although the red themed Huntress did have to wonder, how long was she out… and where exactly was she. She still couldn't figure that out even though she had been to each of the Four Kingdoms and the tribes of Menagerie.

To answer her questions she did have the nurse, but once she was finished working and Ruby asked her, she quickly left through the door where ruby could hear talking for a moment and then the sound of… some sort of static filled voice she couldn't even understand through the door. The whole exchange and the odd behavior by the nurse, since she entered the room actually, peaked the red themed girl's curiosity, mainly since all she asked was where she was.

The nurse treated her like… an alien, keeping her at arm's length almost. Usually, nurses try and connect with their patients to make them feel more comfortable, but this one didn't, she acted more like a cold professional than a kind nurse working in a standard hospital. Kind to think of it, why were the soldiers even here?

Sure Cole did help her, but he would've had to have returned to duty, not wait by her side with his team. Maybe they were actually huntsmen? No, individual huntsmen or even teams don't use uniforms and similar equipment, they were defiantly apart of some mercenary or military faction. Everything didn't sit right with Ruby despite the fact they were helping her.

It made her feel uncomfortable.

Suddenly Cole walked back in with the nurse with a neutral expression on his face "You said you would like to know where you are?" he asked her, his tone conveying some subtle worry. The worry was not out of fear for telling her, however, but because he probably knew what she was feeling and felt some compassion towards her, it didn't help all too much with Ruby's current feelings. Nevertheless, she answered his question with a nod.

"Alright. You've been cleared to know anyway by my superior. Miss Rose, you fell from – at least – a half thousand feet up to a town on the south end of a large, 260-kilometer island known as Altis. It is the largest of three in a small grouping in the south sea which has been hidden away from the public eye for generations." By this point, Ruby was already in disbelief. However, Cole wasn't finished "We live in secret because of one thing. We aren't originally from this world, we come from one known as Earth, and our leader and his armed forces, of which I am part of, have been keeping it safe since we arrived. You are literally staring into the face of an alien life Ruby…"

To say Ruby was dumbfounded would be like saying Russians don't like their vodka. Her facial expression was one of total awestruck shock, mouth agape, and eyes bulging out of her head to the point where the nurse actually got worried they might fall out. There was no possible way that he was telling the truth. Certainly, he wasn't, and it was just a cover-up or an elaborate ruse made up to hide their actual location. Time as a huntress has taught her several cues that a person has when they're lying so unless this man was a stone-faced god at poker faces or he was, in fact, telling her the full truth.

Ruby refused to believe it, her mind couldn't comprehend the fact she was on an island that's been under the noses of every kingdom on the planet. The sole fact that nobody else had found it – or so she guessed – was another astoundingly impossible thing, especially if they've been here as long as Cole said they been. "H-how… w-wha… I don't understand, how is this even possible, how has nobody found you?" the rational part of her mind needed an explanation to this before the irrational area of her brain had a meltdown and she lost it.

"Actually you are not the first person to stumble upon our little slice of heaven, many have come before you, and a few have even applied for asylum. It's all handled through what we call the Tourist Department, they handle all our cases involving people from the mainland ending up here. Right now they're prepping a backstory so when you do eventually leave you'll have a cover." Ruby gave him a confused look. "Oh right, I forgot to say you can't tell anyone else you know about this island's existence, it would endanger countless lives here and abroad."

"Wait, so I can't tell anyone?" was Ruby's immediate response to Cole, the latter of whom nodding affirmative. "But… why? What about telling people could put you in danger?" and this actually made the other party looked stumped, Cole had no real idea, he was a soldier and was paid to follow orders, not question authority.

But if he had to guess "The beasts that plague the mainland. They are not a threat here for the do not exist on our soil. If other people caught wind of this place, there is the chance that many would attempt to flock here to live. Overpopulation would lead to disaster and may even attract the creatures in the long run." Cole said.

"Grimm" Ruby suddenly said.

"Come again?"

"They're called Grimm… and I can see why it would be an issue for you… if it means keeping others safe, your secret is safe with me." Ruby said with a small smile which Cole returned in kind.

Just then there was a knock at the door, and the soldier that Cole sent to retrieve Ruby's friends and family stepped in followed by a young woman whose golden locks could never be mistaken by those who knew her, mainly because she never cuts the extremely long hair. She was clad in the orange tank top and a yellow jacket with jeans, having literally thrown that on and leaving the minute she read that message they received a couple days prior. She was none other than Yang, and the look of anxious anticipation on her face spoke volumes about how she felt.

The second that yang laid eyes on Ruby, that look was gone and a shocked gasped filled the room. Being smart, Cole stepped out of her way, as did Tom, as Yang all but lunged through the rest of the door and by Ruby's side. She wrapped her in a bear hug that was most defiantly not good for her condition as Ruby kept repeating 'ow' over and over again for its duration in a small squeaky tone. The only time that Yang let up was to give ruby a sisterly kiss on the cheek before hugging her again as if letting go of her would mean losing her again.

"You're alive…" Yang whispered.

Ruby, still in pain from the hug, smiled anyways and hugged her older sister back, all while the Nurse watched on with a disapproving look, one she turned on Cole who was just letting it happen. "It's not like you're trying to stop it," Cole said quietly to her. The nurse rolled her eyes and addressed Yang "Ma'am, I have to ask you to release the patient as some of her bones are still fragile from the accident." she said. Yang pulled back some and looked at the nurse with a blank before nodding with a small smile and turning back to Ruby.

Weiss and Blake had entered with Yang and were of course by her side, Weiss being bold enough to hold Ruby's hand with happy tears in her eyes while Blake stood off to Weiss's side. Behind them, by Cole were Tai and Qrow who remained a polite distance away so that the team could be reunited. That and Qrow was keeping his stepbrother in line because he would've acted just like Yang just did if he let him off the leash, and trust me one Xiao Long was enough for Ruby to handle at the moment. Didn't stop Tai from waving happily at his daughter when she made eye contact though.

His work done, Cole then stepped out of the room so they could all catch up. The family and the rest of the team were already told about the whole alien island thing when they arrived the day prior, so he didn't need to repeat himself. All he needed was to return to his station outside the door with Tom and Boon who were already out there, weapons at the ready and prepared to take out any threats that may come their way. But what were the odds of that? They're currently a mile below the surface in the mountainous regions of Altis. Nobody knew they were there, a blessing as Zeus had yet to disclose exactly why he was giving this one girl special treatment and wanted to keep it that way… for now at least.


	3. Chapter 3: Reunion part 2

**Kavala, Altis  
June 21st, 0958 Hours**

While Ruby and her team and family were catching up in the undisclosed facility, the rest of the world outside turned as it should. People went to work, soldiers ran drills, and the leaders of the land went about completing their work to make sure the nation didn't set itself on fire. Mark was one such person in that bunch of leaders who was busy with a plethora of seemingly meaningless things that actually held an enormous amount of importance in greasing the gears of his islands. The work was repetitive and never-ending, just a stream of reports and bills or contracts he'd have to approve or decline; in all honesty, it was a tedious and boring task that anybody would hate. Although he would happily do the work, after all, it keeps the very thing he spent decades creating alive. However, a little help is appreciated.

Take Mark's assistant, one of the first Faunus refugees on the island from Mistral that was given full asylum and granted a position in the government workhorse, something few got. Her name was Miss Hue Sung, a spiffy young girl with a pair of canine ears on top of her head that match in color to her grey, almost silver, natural hair which reached down to her shoulders loosely. She sat at her desk outside the office labeled merely as ZEUS going over appointment schedules, some extra work Mark asked her to do, all while finishing the crossword she started the day before. She was intelligent, exceptionally so, and able to multi-task productively and efficiently, so much so that she believes it to be her semblance sometimes.

As she worked with a small smile on her face, Seth stood off to the side leaning against a file cabinet with a generic comic that was secretly imported from the mainland; it was one of his pastimes when Mark was busy with office work and had no need for a bodyguard. Especially since the office had almost a company worth of military security inside and an armored section out-front. Needless to say, Seth could harmlessly slack off some and drop the military pleasantries, for the time being, not caring if it didn't look professional to others.

Miss Sung kept working, beginning to hum a song she heard on the radio when the door opened, and a man in full dress stepped in. Seth put away the comic and stood straight out of respect for the man who stepped closer with a relaxed look on his face; the man stopping and saluting the guard in return out of mutual respect. Miss Sung didn't even have to ask the man his name, by the uniform alone she could tell he was with the Coalition Army Medical Research Division, so she stood and greeted him cheerfully. "General Stag, it is a pleasure to see you again." She said. The older looking General with salt and pepper hair nodded with a smile "And the same to you Miss Sung. I'm here for an appointment." he replied.

Miss Sung nodded "Yes, Chief Harrison has been expecting you, I'll see you in."

Mark sat in his office going over the nations finance report of the month when his assistant stepped in making him turn up from his dull paperwork. "General Stag is here for his appointment." Miss Sung said sweetly, opening the door enough for the well-dressed General to step in which the man did, giving a crisp salute to his superior. "Fantastic," Mark commented, "Thank you, Miss Sung, you can leave us now." The aforesaid Faunus woman nodded and left, shutting the door to return to her work.

Mark shook hands with the General before sitting himself again "Good to see you again Richard, how's the wife?" He asked, Stag chuckling in response "A thorn in my side as always; how about you and your new secretary?" the General returned with a knowing smile. Yes, Mark had been sleeping with the woman, what can a guy do? Especially when he's essentially an eternal God who presides over an advanced species by direct interaction; he's bound to get tied up in the occasional love affair. Mark sighed and shook his head with a smile "You see right through me Doc." Ah, it would be useful to mention that the good General has a Ph.D. as Masters, one of the reasons he was given lead role in the Medical Division "She's sweet, keeps thing's professional as you can see, I even have toothbrush status at her place."

Stag chuckled to himself, more than at Mark "You're one horndog, you know that? But enough about our personal lives, as much as I would like to jab that you probably do doggy style more often than not, we have business to attend to." Mark brushed off the comment and nodded, pulling out a manila file labeled 'Project: Rose Thorns' and setting it on the desk. "Are you sure it's safe to go through with your little plan? Project Rose Thorns is meant to keep people _away_ from the subject not put her in direct contact with people. We don't know what will happen, Mark, I don't feel comfortable signing off on this." And the General's concerns were warranted given what they were dealing with.

Mark had put thought and plenty of free time into this plan of his, even going as far as to test it small scale with a willing volunteer who was met with promising results, something that Mark mentioned in the report he filed to Stag the day prior. "Yes, but as my report stated yesterday, this _can_ _work_ , it's only a matter of how we go about it. Something I'm hoping you'll take care of. We just need to be careful… Come on Richard… your own men signed off on the test and checked the results, it's completely sound."

"What about long-term? We can't release the subject for long and risk a breakout… Lord knows how catastrophic that would be…" Stag trailed off remembering a certain event on that faithful day roughly twenty years prior. Mark nodded and lowered his head. Both had lost something that day, and the scars were still there. "I never said she'd be leaving the island. While letting her leave the compound alone is already worrying, I'll be honest I'm not comfortable with this either, it's the right thing to do. It may actually help her with her condition…"

The two sat in silence a moment, knowing full well what that meant. Mark could be right, and it may actually help, or it won't, they would only really see if they try. That said, the tow soon started speaking again, going over what ifs, buffing out Mark's plan more, even rechecking previously discarded ideas. Stag wanted to be sure that things would go smoothly.

The last thing he wanted was the most dangerous thing on the island to have an accident.

* * *

 **Coalition Data Farm, Stratis**

 **June 21st, 1021 Hours**

Months after the Coms glitch that rocked the entire satellite island causing undo havoc things were starting to normalize and return to normal. Especially for the nerdy IT scientist who ran the island's primary Data Storage Farm, a massive underground facility that sat below Air Station Mike-26, which just so happened to be the source of the enormous glitch that sent the island into a communications blackout. Two such scientists were wandering the server racks checking terminals and drives for anything out of place. They weren't exceptional; they were a couple of guys in a sea of others like them who did the exact same thing they did across the three islands at similar facilities.

One held a clipboard and pen while the other typed away at an access point in the farm going through a cache of encrypted files checking for errors or things that were out of place. The one with the clipboard methodically and quickly checked off a list on as the other listed off files in the cache, silent and almost mechanical in his work while his companion promptly listed them off.

However, the other stopped his friend from a listing of the files when he came across something he wasn't expecting "Did you skip a file?" he asked his partner who shook his head "No, of course not, especially with files as sensitive as these." He said, turning back.

The other looked at his companion oddly and scooted in the check the list and compare it to the physical copy. And sure enough, a file was missing, one that made his eyes go wide.

"Oh no…" he said, voice almost a whisper "What?"

"We need to contact the colonel…"

The other man gave his peer a curious look, eyebrow raised. He didn't even get to ask why before his co-worker showed him the file list, highlighting one out of the bunch. When the other man read the list his face blanched, and eyes shrunk, looking at his friend worriedly, already knowing what was inside the file.

OPFOR weapon and vehicle schematics…

* * *

 **Classified Location, Altis**

 **June 22st, 0932 Hours**

It was visiting time again in Ruby's room, the gang all back in here – Weiss and Blake sitting off to the side, the latter reading a book as usual but still listening while Tai and Yang hovered around Ruby. Strangely Qrow was nowhere to be found. However, Cole was there alongside Boon this time, the two soldiers standing diligently by the door while Tom sat out in the hall doing his duty. The Xiao Longs were busy regaling Ruby with tails of their search for her after she fell, Yang blowing everything waaaaay out of proportion in the process. While the search by air was epic, the entirety of Vale did not drop what they were doing and hop on a Bullhead to go look for Ruby. Tai was in the middle of telling how they were getting ready to give up looking for her when there was a curt knock at the door before it opened to reveal a nicely dressed Mark in a very lax stance.

"Good Morning everyone," He said and was met with a garbled response from everyone responding all at once, something which made the man chuckle "Good to see that you are all in sync. My name is Mark Harrison; I preside over this facility and the entire island." Tai was first to move, standing from his chair and walking over to shake hands with Mark "It is a pleasure to meet the man who saved my daughter." but Mark respectfully shook his head. "Oh no, that honor is not mine, it is Sergeant Hughes here-" he gestured to the Grenadier on the inside right of the door "Who saved your daughter, him and his team."

Tai nodded "Either way… thank you." The blonde man cupped Mark's hand and shook it one last time "You're very welcome sir, but thanks are really not necessary. However, I am not just here to meet the family and team of the young woman that was saved on my lands. I'm actually overseeing something." Outside, Blake could hear the sound of thudding footfalls making her ear twitch in response "You see Miss Rose happens to be a _very_ special case when it comes to tourists. It's one of the reasons we are in this facility… Tell me, how long has it been since your mothers passing." The question caught everyone off guard. It was no secret that Summer had passed and that her grave lied near the family home on Patch. "Pardon me mister-" Weiss spoke up only to be stopped by Mark "Please, my father was Mister Harrison, call me Mark." To which Weiss nodded politely "Ok… I just wanted to ask; what does that have to do with anything? I mean no offense, but it just seems like such an odd thing to ask."

"The answer will come soon." Blake noticed that the footsteps stopped just short of entering view of the room outside. She also noticed Yang and Weiss had taken notice of the noise and gazed at the door a moment before refocusing on Mark. "But first, Ruby? Can you answer the question?"

"Well… all I really know is she had gone on a solo mission somewhere in the Menagerie desert only for her to disappear without a trace. We… we stopped looking soon after…" Ruby spoke, a detectable amount of sadness in her voice that actually made Weiss want to hop up and hug her, an urge which she resisted but Blake did notice out of the corner of her eye.

"….Bring her in," Was the only thing that Mark said after a short pause. Deep down he knew there would be some sort of backlash from attempting something like this so he decided to go the Band-Aid route and tear it off in one go.

In stepped through the door a quad of guards clad in black tactical uniforms, their presence actually throwing Cole and his friends for a loop, more so with whomever they were escorting.

A strange woman.

She wore a heavy-duty, tear proof Hazardous Containment suit with oxygen set; it was bright orange covered in grey armor plates and tubing with her head was completely visible in the semi-dome helmet showing her face to everyone in the room. She had a similar hair color to Ruby, only not as vibrant because of her age. The room was silent for several tense seconds, almost palpable before someone decided to finally speak.

"Summer... is… is that… are you real?" Tai questioned "M-mom?" Ruby asked teary-eyed while Yang stood utterly slack-jawed. Meanwhile, Weiss and Blake watched the exchange, equally surprised.

Summer on the other hand… she looked confused and even a bit skittish, actually scooting back some.

"Mom?" Ruby asked, tears now flowing freely "I-it's me… R-Ruby…"

Mark took this time to cut in, not wanting this to degrade into something worse "She can't remember you." He said simply, although things escalated when Yang to a step forward, tears also flowing "Why not? What did you do to her?! Why is she dressed in that?!" She yelled accusingly, causing Summer to step back some in sudden fear. "Calm down!" Mark yelled Summer backed away more "NO! I want to know what is going on! Why is our mother here!?" Summer began breathing rapidly, something that Mark took notice of when his smartwatch beeped alarmingly and he checked it quickly seeing Summer's heart rate "Shit, she's having an episode, get her out of here!"

Ruby tried to intervene, ripping out her IV and launching up "No wait!" she jumped and tried running for her mom. Luckily her condition made it difficult for her semblance or Cole and Mark wouldn't have been able to stop her, Blake seeing reason and enlisting Weiss to hold back their team's blonde brawler "Yang calm down!" Weiss yelled "NO! I WILL NOT CALM DOWN!" Yang yelled, and Summer curled up visibly, closing her eyes as her heart rate spiked more, she was beginning to have a panic attack. "Major! Get her out of here now!"

The soldiers who escorted Summer in quickly ushered her out while a medical team in White Hazmat equipment began checking her over as they moved away, Yang yelling for Weiss and Blake to let go. Nurses rushed in the room to control Ruby, Cole standing back straight and going over to comfort the Red themed girl who looked like she needed it. It was actually a godsend that Tai was too dumbstruck to do much, Mark and the team were having trouble with two family members calling for their mother and all but screaming, Ruby crying loudly while Yang shed her own tears through her unbridled fury.

"EVERYONE CALM DOWN!" Mark yelled.

Weiss and Blake managed to get Yang to sit in one of the chairs, Tai being snapped from his stupor and looking around "Mister Xiao Long, please take a seat and allow me to explain somethings." Mark said. Tai, being an adult – even in his state, sat down as well with his full attention on Mark. "Thank you… I had a feeling that this was going to end in tears…" Mark took a breath and exhaled, composing himself.

"To start, we have to go back about twenty years ago… One night CENTCOM received a transmission from Coalition Tower C-7 on the East side of the island about a downed craft of foreign origin. The presiding general at the time dispatched emergency crews to the sight and recovered one deceased and one critically wounded female. The pilot and Summer…" Mark paused a moment, seeing if that got everyone's attention.

Yang seemed to have calmed down substantially, although she still looked cross. Tai was leaning on his arms forward, listening intently offering a hand to his youngest daughter for comfort while the nurse hooked Ruby back up correctly. Cole sat close by, also doing his best to calm ruby while Boon and Tom were back at their posts.

"Summer was brought in while the pilot was later labeled a John Doe and put on Ice for the time being. It wasn't until the next week that Summer awoke… and people at the hospital began calling in sick. We quickly learned that she had retrograde amnesia and that she somehow had a disease that was spreading rapidly. Everyone here would be essentially dead if we even breathed the same air as her. She was wearing that suit because whatever virus she is carrying has a one hundred percent mortality rate with no possible cure or treatment."

This was a surprise to everyone, no disease like that was known on Remnant, advanced technology as well as Aura helping with health. This set off major red flags for those present, namely Blake, Weiss, and Tai who all gave Mark a partial scrutinizing look. "Before you all start asking me questions about the disease, let me say that we don't understand it either. We simply call it the Yellow Death on the account that the liver fails first followed quickly by other major organs. What we do know is that it doesn't originate from Summer herself."

"What does that mean?" Tai suddenly asked, "How can she not be the carrier if you say she _is_ the carrier?" He asked, further scrutinizing Mark.

"Because we believe it's the ancient looking bracelet that is fused with her arm."

"What?" Blake asked out of the blue, leaning in close to see if she heard mark right.

"A bracelet, ancient looking and has essentially fused to her skin somehow, we don't understand why or how, but it's keeping her healthy and killing anyone that gets close to it without proper equipment or environmental conditioning. We were too late to figure this out and paid the price. People around her dropped like flies, an entire town and military base gone…" This took everybody back. None of them could comprehend that amount of sheer death, and – if Mark's story is to be believed – all because of some old piece of jewelry.

"The event took a toll on Summer," Mark continued "Hence her skittish nature and panic attacks, she is suffering a form of PTSD. Bringing her here was an attempt to remedy the amnesia, and possibly help her with her PTSD by putting her around people she loves." Mark said somberly, looking down.

"We knew from the beginning it was a long shot and had a lot of backlashes if it went south. It's actually one of the reasons I took your weapons and had Ruby's scheduled for another maintenance that I 'forgot' to add… I didn't want bloodshed, or worse, the virus escaping. I don't want to know what would happen if it got out."

Everybody was speechless, Ruby's silent sobs being the only real noise coming from any of them. Blake was mulling something over her in her head that took all her attention of the real world away, her face scrunched up in disbelief and confusion. Weiss was staring at ruby and flicking over to mark occasionally. Tai was also thinking about how this was all possible, while still trying to cope with the fact that his once dead wife was now among the living once again. Yang was staring at nothing and nobody, in particular, arms crossed as she bore down on the floor, still not trusting of this 'Mark' character.

"…. Mark?" Blake unexpectedly asked, getting his attention "Yes miss Belladonna, something you want to ask?"

The black haired girl nodded "What does the bracelet look like?" This got everyone to switch their attention to Blake, looking at her like she just grew another set of cat ears "Why would you care about that?" Weiss asked, severely mixed up. "With everything else, you chose to ask what the deadly bracelet looks like?" Yang butted in, an angry look directed to her partner.

Mark was also confused "Miss Xiao Long has a point, even if she was a little rude about it, why do you care?"

"The whole thing… it… sounds familiar… an old wives tale from when I was a child…" Blake answered.

Mark gave Blake an interested look "Well the bracelet is an interesting piece. It's an old, brass looking metal bracelet, not very big, but it has intricate carvings and appears to have been laced with some unknown crystalline material."

"That sounds like it would be it… Although I can't be sure, people descriptions varied, but that sounds like the most used." Blake answered, albeit unsure of herself. "Tell us the tale as best as you can remember it, maybe something about it can actually help us," Mark asked.

Blake looked at Mark a moment before nodding and beginning to try and remember how the tale was told to her all those years ago "…. It was during the Great War between Faunus kind and Humans. Legends tell of a group of mages who were all gathered by the king of Menagerie who were tasked with creating a weapon to help defeat the Humans and win the war for all Faunus. There were three mages in total, Cruecella, Angelia, and Reddlia, some of the most powerful Faunus mages ever known at the time." Blake paused trying to remember more.

"They toiled for what many say years, nobody is sure, but it soon gave birth to the World Ender. Cruecella was the one who discovered the means to create the weapon, what some say is a twisted form of Dust and devised a way to harness it so it may kill Humans in the vilest ways possible. But as they quickly found out it affected Humans as well as Faunus when Reddlia was killed by the weapon." Mark had heard stories like this before. One person creates the weapon of ultimate power, another one takes the weapon and seals it away, classic storytelling. "Cruecella saw it only as a necessary evil to win the war while Angelia saw the true evil the weapon had and stole it in the dead of night. Cruecella found and tried to stop her, dying in the process, but mortally wounding Angelia as she made her escape. She ran into the deserts of Menagerie, never to be seen or heard from again, taking the weapon with her…"

Mark took notice about halfway through the story "Did you saw it was a form of Dust?" Blake shook her head favorably "Yes… an evil, twisted version of Dusk that nobody has ever heard of before."

Mark snapped his fingers "That's it! That's how it works! Dust was the answer all along, of course, it was!"

"You couldn't figure that out before?" Weiss asked, herself more experienced in Dust work "Did you not run any tests to be sure it Dust?"

"We did, however, it's not cut and dry. Our knowledge of Dust is simply too basic to get a good grip on analyzing it. Plus, we don't exactly have the proper equipment for the job." Mark answered "We may have advanced technology, but you have to remember, it's not even close to your people's level of tech yet. Not to mention, importing dust on a large scale is sure to cause suspicion, something we are trying to avoid, so we aren't discovered as you all know."

Weiss said no more. However, Yang spoke up "What does that mean about our Mom, what are you going to do with her? Keep her here until she dies?" she sounded less angry and more annoyed and sarcastic.

"No, on the contrary, we are going to have to go to initiate a whole new protocol about the matter. First, we are going to send you all home, except Ruby and possibly her father. Qrow has already left; he claimed to have received a mission and didn't want to tell you about it."

"You expect me to leave my sister?!" Yang said, outraged "I barely trust you, especially after the stunt you-" "YANG!" Tai suddenly yelled, having been trying to get her attention for the last minute "I'll go back to patch… I can't be gone from Signal long… even after finding out one of the loves of my life is still alive, I have a job to do. I can't exactly tell them where I am and stay and lying won't get me far… especially with Ms. Trade as the School's vice principal; the woman can smell a lie a mile away." Tai said growing a sneer on his face at the mention of her name "You stay… be with Ruby…"

"But, I don't want either of you to leave!" Ruby cut in.

"Sorry, sweetie… But I have to…" He turned to mark "Promise me this... you'll keep my family safe… I just got them back; I don't want to lose them again."

"Sir, this island is one of the most closely guarded secrets this world has and has a military force that makes Atlas look like common thugs- no offense miss Schnee," Mark said with sincerity "None taken" the white themed girl responded.

"Your family will be safe with me. I promise…"

* * *

 **Kavala, Altis**

 **June 22st, 1921 Hours**

Hours later, Tai, Weiss, and Blake were sent back home to avoid suspicion on their part and keep up appearances.

The fact that Weiss stayed as long as she did was already getting attention from her father who was about to send some of his private security to get her; however, she did not leave without saying a proper goodbye to Ruby. Mark wasn't an idiot, he knew Weiss was in love with her, but the simple fact was she couldn't stay because of her social status as an heiress.

Tai returned to Signal to resume his job as a teacher feeling both happy and sad, the feeling of loss returning when he has to leave his daughter and wife who he just got back. Even if he were to claim he was on a mission, it wouldn't last much longer. He was using the same excuse to sulk at his home, something the fabled Ms. Trade was starting to pick up on. Blake went back to see her family, albeit, reluctantly seeing as how she was one of the few people that could've stayed longer since she was Huntress with no missions.

But, there was actually another reason Mark sent her back home. He sent her with a Sat Phone to keep in contact so she can relay research and information about the tale she told back to Mark so he and his scientist can find a way to either remove or negate the bracelet.

Mark left Yang and Ruby. One of the two already hated his guts, he didn't want to make it worse, so he returned back home to hopefully let her cool. He and Seth walked in the door exhausted, Mark switching on the light and finding that he and his companion were not alone. The two of them drawing their respective weapons and turning them on the intruders that we sitting in his living room, one asleep and drooling on his couch the other drinking some of Mark's wine from his cupboard. Mark sighed and holstered his weapon, telling Seth to do the same "I'll handle this, go wash up, I'll be fine…"

Seth, grateful that he could actually take a shower finally, didn't argue and went up to wash. Both he and Mark knew the two women that made themselves at home and knew they would never try anything as stupid as attacking him in his home… not with the military within spitting distance of the house and capable of responding to a distress call.

"Cinder… see you made yourself at home." Mark droned, annoyed.

The woman giggled "Yes, might I say you have a fine selection of beverages to choose from. I thought I'd help myself."

"Whoppdie does, what's this about. I know you wouldn't come here without something good. That's why I pay you and your little minion Emerald there." He waved an arm towards the green haired girl leaving a spit stain on his couch. Yes, the two of them were on his payroll. He met the two a long while ago and decided that they could be significant assets to his intelligence network, hiring them and giving them the means to act in the shadows how they see fit and get him news about happenings on the mainland, specifically with the darker forces at work around here.

"Why yes, we do come bearing news… and you're not going to like it."

"Oh, fun… hit me with it."

"Alright… the Reds are mobilizing for something… we don't know what, but it's got to be big with how much resources they're pulling aside for it." Ah yes, the Reds. The exceptionally larger, more militaristic, brother of the White Fang. They call themselves the Red Skrill and they're more dangerous than the White Fang. Made up of the descendants of Faunus soldiers from the Great War they are an adversary that should be feared, working in the shadows like the White Fang devising was to seek revenge against humanity for what they did to their species all those years ago.

"How can you be so sure they're preparing for something? They're not a very 'public' terrorist group, they're too careful to do something huge like that." Mark said.

"I'm not sure… but something is off. They're moving equipment I've never seen before, equipment that looks strikingly familiar to the equipment your army uses… They're going big this time, that's why I came directly to you because you and I both know when they strike… the leave no survivors."

Mark nodded. Every time they poke their head out, they leave no witnesses to make sure they stay hidden, even children and women. Entire villages have burned in the night because of the Reds, and people on the outside world believe it was merely an attack by the Grimm.

"I'll look into it… But more important things have come up… in the meantime, thank that friend of yours for delivering the letters… and let Miss Neo know that there is a position for a person of her expertise if she needs it. That trick with the delivery guy and Emerald with her illusions was perfect."

Cinder chuckled "I will make sure she gets the message… Toodles~" the red themed woman said as Mark ascended the stairs knowing the two can find their own exit.

He promised himself he'd check into the Red Skrill later after a good night of sleep and a healthy breakfast in the morning.

What he didn't know was that the Reds were already going to attack.

And their target was the same place they got the schematics for all their new weapons…


	4. Chapter 4: Seige of Stratis

**Camp Rogain, Stratis  
June 22st, 2354 Hours**

It was quiet, the sounds of the night the only ambiance to be heard by the few guards on duty that night, several soldiers with light equipment on the perimeter. The camp was retrofitted when the island was transported here all those years ago, several armored watchtowers and cargo buildings becoming a central part of the base. About thirty men are stationed there at intervals of three-month 'tours' before being rotated with the next batch of men.

In one of the guard towers, one separated from the main base along the road to the west, a marksman guard sat with a rangefinder, Night Vision active, scanning the horizon for anything… literally anything. The Lance Corporal Marksman loved his position. Indeed he did, it was better than busy work back at Altis International where he was stationed previously. The only problem was: this was the most boring position on the planet.

He was supposed to keep an eye out for suspicious activity, unknown movements near the base, unidentified aircraft, etcetera. The only thing was that none of that ever really popped up on occasion. Except for the rare times it did.

Like now.

Far on the horizon, miles out and lower than the night's cloud layer the Marksman spotted a fixed-wing craft of indeterminate design. He grew curious and grabbed the radio nearby, tuning it to the local frequency.

"Major Rollins, this is Penske, you there?" the Corporal asked.

" _This is Rollins, what is it son?_ " The static muddled reply of a very old sounding and tied major came through.

"I got an unidentified aircraft bearing 235 South West. Do you have anything on the flight manifest?" Penske asked.

As per a new regulation set in by Zeus that went into effect after the first week of arriving on this strange world, all aircraft (civilian or military) had to register flights in a continually updating manifest that was linked to all three islands. They usually also had a GPS location embedded with the log making it easier to keep track of.

" _Wait one,_ " Rollins said, the radio going silent once again while Penske brought the rangefinder back up and began zooming in to try and get the tail number on the plane. But as he looked closer he got a better look at the plane's design. Confused the Corporal put the rangefinder down and looked at it plain then looked back trying to see if he saw that right. Just as he did the radio crackled back to life.

" _Ah, stupid fucking machine. I can't get the manifest up Penske, the connection is bugging out. Let me try and-_ "

Rollins was interrupted when Penske lunged for the radio suddenly "IT'S A FUCKING FROGFOOT! REPEAT, IT'S A RUSSIAN FROG-FUCK! INCOMING!"

Without warning, without any foresight, one of the hummers inside the base and any nearby were engulfed in a ball of orange of destruction, a spear of flame having screamed across the air in a matter of seconds and vaporizing the unsuspecting vehicle. The corporal ducked and prayed as the base was suddenly very awake in shock and panic.

Soldiers screamed and yelled, confused as more HE impact missiles descended upon them; dozens of them fell, unsuspecting of their coming doom. The enemy craft kept peppering the base with explosives. Then another jet joined in, descending from its cloud cover and raining its own form of hellish death from above.

Several soldiers quickly got their bearings, grabbing any sort of weapons or getting on mounted guns of still intact hummers and lighting the sky up with tracers and hot lead in an attempt to bring down the Russian designed aircraft.

The onslaught lasted only a matter of seconds, coming quickly and suddenly before disappearing again as the jets screamed away unscathed. Pocketed gunfire continued for a moment before dying out completely, the quiet sounds of the night replaced with roaring flames and the occasional loud band from loose ammo cooking off in the fire.

Penske took a chance and stood back up looking back at the vase only to see a handful of men running from the base which was nothing more than a burning, twisted husk. He was lucky, the tower not actually being a core part of the base, essentially saving his life. Some of the more unfortunate souls came out burning, screaming wildly before collapsing as some men tried to help douse the flames.

Penske heard a distant explosion and turned to see a wicked orange glow on the horizon, fresh pillars of smoke rising into the sky from installments all across the island. This was not an isolated and unplanned attack. This was thought out, and thoroughly planned blitz on the island, one that was far from over it seemed as Penske spotted multiple other aircraft, transports for soldiers.

Soon he saw many parachutes blossom into existence as paratroopers rained from the air on the battered and destroyed bases and encampments of the island. Penske was just glad he didn't see any fall close to his station. However, it would be only a matter of time before they came to the base to do God knows what.

With how quickly and mercilessly they attack, Penske feared for his and his fellow soldiers' survival against such a threat and thus he needed a plan. Survival was key.

Penske was quick to get out the safety of his tower and return to the remains of the base where he saw but a handful of the men that were stationed there. And that's only the ones that were up and about and not writhing on the ground in agony while their surviving medic tried his best to help them.

Penske saw there were about eight survivors including himself, the remaining six living soldiers were in no condition to fight, their bodies marred and shredded with burned flesh and shrapnel wounds. Getting them to safety was going to be hard. Harder since it seemed only five of the nine of them had any sort of weapon.

"Who here is the commanding officer?!" Penske bellowed.

The men all looked at him then around at each other for a moment, none speaking up until one of the unarmed ones stepped forward. "I… I think you are… sir." The young gunner said.

Penske took a step back surprised, he had never been in command of anyone before, not even a spotter. To suddenly be dropped the weight of leading a group of broken and disheveled soldiers was a game changer for the ordinarily solo operating man.

"….Alright… What is your name soldier?" Penske asked the man.

"PFC Armstrong sir." The younger soldier saluted; his gait and stance a bit wary due to the lingering shock of the situation.

"Alright, Armstrong… you and two others are with me, we are going to see if any of these vehicles are operable so we can hightail it out of here."

Some of the men were confused at why Penske wanted to leave, and one voiced his concern "Why not stay sir? Wouldn't we stand a better chance?"

Penske shook his head "No, this base is in shambles and burning, not only that but I'm sure you saw the parachutes earlier. It's only a matter of time before those soldiers come and take this base. We are in no condition to fight let alone survive." he put bluntly.

"We need to regroup. Closest place I can think of is the range outside of Agia Marina. If we can get there, we can maybe stand a better chance. Now let's stop wasting time and get to work…" Penske said moving towards some vehicles that looked operable.

Armstrong and two other soldiers went to help him look, checking several of the hummers and trucks only to find either a warped bit of tire and metal from an explosion or a piece of shrapnel or AP round run through the engine.

However, lady luck had yet to abandon them just yet.

Tucked away just outside the walls of the base behind a few rusty cargo buildings sat an M10 LMTV in all its beat up glory. It was protected by the wall of the base and thus was protected. The only actual damage it had was the wear and tear of regular use.

Sadly it wasn't a Personel Carrier model, but a flatbed, but that didn't deter Penske.

"Right, we have wheels. Armstrong, you're driving. The rest of you help the wounded and load up, we are getting the fuck out of here."

Penske walked over and carefully helped one of the wounded to his feet, taking all the weight from him and helping him to the open bed truck where several men were loading up a few ammo cases they salvaged and the weapons. Another soldier helped the wounded man into the back and laid him down before Penske went around and got into the passenger seat, priming the bolt of his M24 rifle.

Only he and Armstrong were in the front seat "Keep the headlights off, I want to avoid detection as much as possible. Here," Penske handed him his Night Vision Goggles "Use these."

Armstong nodded and donned the NVGs and switched them on before starting the truck and switching off all the lights. Their journey began, now all they needed to do was get to Agia Marina alive.

* * *

 **Just west of Agia Marina, Stratis  
June 23st, 0014 Hours**

Penske and the others drove for several minutes in the pitch of darkness, the night only alight as distant firefights and raging infernos burned the many bases around them. So far they were lucky in getting this far, but luck ran out sooner or later.

For them, it was just as they crested the hill and caught sight of the Stratis Army Vehicle Range. It was the motor pool for the northern region of the island and not very well staffed. Already he saw the soldiers and engineers of the base were rooted in a massive firefight with unknown contacts on the hillside.

The soldiers were smart, already using scrap from the cars and some extra sandbags to dig in and entrench the position. It helped, but only to a degree as the enemy had the high ground and we hammering the positions with heavy gunfire.

Penske cursed under his breath as he saw the state of things. He swore even louder when a few of the enemy soldiers trained to fire on their vehicle. "FUCK ME!" He exclaimed as heavy gunfire, likely some standard 7.62 caliber rounds, peppered all around them and some striking the armored hull of the M10.

"RETURN FIRE!" Penske ordered and suddenly the back of the truck lit up with several muzzle flashes from both automatic and semi-auto gunfire.

Armstrong swerved and pulled serpentine maneuvers to avoid getting shot, and it worked somewhat. Penske only head one of the soldiers in the back scream in pain as a high caliber round tore into him. The LMTV swerved a bit off the road as it came into the final stretch to the lightly guarded flank of the motor pool, the guards rushing them in and pointing to a sheltered spot to stop.

Armstong ground to a halt behind the cover of the steel canopy used to protect vehicles from the elements… and gunfire apparently. Penske jumped out and took a look at the back only to see the medic clutching a gushing wound on his chest as men around him tried desperately to staunch the bleeding.

Penske watched as the life drained from the medic's eyes and his breathing stopped, several men slowly giving up in saving his life as he was already gone. Penske closed his eyes and turned away.

A man who was apparently in charge of the base stepped to him and put a hand on his shoulder, getting Penske's attention. "Where did you guys come from?!" He yelled over the sounds of battle. "Camp Rogain, we're all that's left! I'm currently the highest ranking officer from the base!" Penske answered.

The man was surprised, he himself was a Sergeant Major, the motor pool didn't really need anybody higher ranking like a base such as Camp Rogain. But to see that the only surviving officer from the station was a Lance Corporal was troubling to him. "Jesus Christ, you're all that's left?! Was the attack that bad?!"

"Yes!" was Penske's simple answer.

The Major went silent a moment, just enough time for a soldier nearby to yell "RPG!"

The sound of a rocket firing could be heard over the din of gunfire followed a few seconds by a loud explosion right next to the fuel pumps starting a massive uncontrolled fire right next to them which would only get worse if the pump lights. "HOLY SHIT! GET THOSE FLAMES OUT BEFORE THAT DUMP GOES!" the Major yelled.

Several men did as their officer ordered, running for hoses or grabbing buckets of water to douse the flames. "Look..." The Major took a look at Penske's name patch "Penske, I just got off the horn with the island's governor, he's ordered a full-scale evacuation of all civilian and wounded."

Penske nodded, understanding. The island was lost, at this point, they're just fighting off the inevitable.

"Scattered radio contact suggest that this may be the only active military establishment on the island. The airfield, Mike-26, Kamino, all of them are gone. The way I see it, I am the only highest ranking officer on this island, and as of now, I am ordering you to evacuate."

This caught Penske off guard, surely the Major wasn't suggesting what Penske thought he was suggesting "Excuse me, sir?"

"Look, I'm already sending non-combatant elements off base to the evacuation, you may as well join them… we already know it's too late and we can't have them trying to chase the survivors. My men have all already agreed, we are staying to make sure you escape."

Penske stared at the Major a moment before dipping his head. He wanted to argue, to tell him wrong, but deep down he knew he was right. He and his men weren't fit for a fight and lacked proper equipment. I mean all he had was forty rounds for his rifle on him, he wouldn't last very long before he ran out.

Penske looked back at the Major then snapped a crisp salute "Thank you, sir… may Zeus be with you… Godspeed."

The Major stood to attention and returned the salute in kind "Same to you Lance Corporal…"

Penske went back and relayed the information to his fellow comrades, something that didn't take very long and was accepted pretty quickly. Nobody, there was even prepped for a fight, they only had the one crate of ammo, and it wasn't even packaged in magazines, just shells. Most of them were also battered from the aerial bombardment, in no condition to fight.

All of them quickly went about collecting the wounded, setting aside those too wounded to even transport, setting up some bootleg form of Combat Triage and focusing on the ones that stood a chance at making it to the evacuation.

More than a few men had trouble with just leaving their own to die, it seemed barbaric, but in light of the attack and the fact they're under fire currently from multiple unknown tangos they were forced to. Armstrong couldn't even do it, he didn't have the guts he told Penske so instead he helped a few of the men prep their transport.

When it was all said and done, more than twenty men could be transported from the base, all of them being squeezed with other evacuees and the men from Rogain into the back of an M1084 transport, Armstrong acting as the designated driver again.

The truck took off quickly under the cover fire of people from the base, driving quickly into Agia Marina for the evacuation, scooping up anyone they could along the way. The whole time Penske sat in the back and watched… watched as the Motor Pool fell into a haze of orange hellfire…

The island of Statis had fallen to the Enemy.

* * *

 **Kavala, Altis  
June 23st, 0034 Hours**

Mark was fast asleep in his bed dreaming of times back on Earth when Seth burst into his room unannounced.

Mark jolted up and gave Seth a wide-eyed look of surprise "Seth?! What time is it! What's going on?" Mark asked in a partially tied tone.

"Sir, we are under attack…"

* * *

 **A/N Sorry for the long wait, but as I said this was a test story, and right now we are delving into the real test of this story. Massive armed conflict. I have little knowledge about how to write about something like this, and I decided it would be better to write a short story to dip my toes in the water as opposed to diving into a full-length novel and falling apart when the meat of the story begins. Please, if you have any experience or foresight you wish to give me, PM me or write a review, thank you. Again, sorry for the long wait, I hope you all have a happy Halloween.**

 **-Guardian Alpha**


	5. Chapter 5: To Wound a God

**South Kavala, Altis** **  
 **June 23st, 0105 Hours****

Not five minutes after Seth told Mark that they were under attack they were already in a motorcade to CENTCOM so Mark can fully understand just how exactly an entire island's defense network collapsed in under an hour.

"How the fuck did this happen?!" Mark yelled, asking nobody in particular.

Seth shook his head and put his face in his hands, still trying figure out if this was real and not some whacked out nightmare induced by drinking… which he denies having before bed. "I don't know sir… I'm having trouble believing this all…"

Mark groaned and rubbed his head annoyed "Driver, how much longer?" Mark said in an impatient tone.

"We're almost at the heliport sir, less than a few minutes."

"Step on it, I don't mind running a few lights…" Mark said back.

The driver nodded and then sped up, the others cars automatically following suit, almost like a hive mind.

Mark fidgeted nervously, thinking about who or what could have attacked his island. So far they were in the dark, last contact with the island was a garbled SOS before Mike 26's frequency was cut, and it didn't give them much to work with. Mark had a feeling that he knew, the Red Skrill came to mind, but where would they even get the means to mount a full-scale assault?

And then he remembered last night.

"…Jesus Christ, Seth get me Cinder on the Sat phone, now." Mark ordered his right hand.

Seth was quick to fish out said phone and dial in the assigned number, bringing up to listen for an answer "…Miss Fall, Zeus needs to speak with you, it's urgent… no, it cannot wait… hang on I'll put him on."

Seth handed the phone to Mark who took it quickly "Cinder, Last night you said something about the Red Skrill having equipment that looked like ours, can you elaborate any further?" Mark said hurriedly.

There was an audible groan "It's one in the morning and you asking me something like that?" Cinder asked, mildly annoyed.

"Now listen here lady, cut the bullshit. I just got a message from one of my fucking islands that it was being attacked right before contact with it was lost entirely. I am in no fucking mood for your prissy shit, get yourself together, or your protection status becomes null and void, do I make myself clear?" Mark ordered in a very uncharacteristic tone.

There was a pause on the other line, Mark could picture the red-dressed woman staring at the sat phone with a surprised look on her face and were he not in the mood he was he would've chuckled. "… Alright fine… the equipment you're asking about did look like yours, only it was slightly different."

"How so?" Mark asked quickly.

"I was getting to that. They looked more… uniform in design, less sleek and more utility based."

"Can you describe some?"

"Well, I saw some of the… tanks are what you call them I think… they were about thirtyish feet long, had a strange track design, more round compared to your tanks. The… head, I guess, was more round too." Cinder told Mark, struggling with remembering every detail.

Mark was silent, not believing what he heard. The way she described it, even as vague as it was, it sounded like she was describing the standard design of Russian MBTs. But that was impossible, simply impossible.

"…Are you there?" Cinder asked, growing impatient in waiting.

"Thank you, miss Fall… have a safe flight." Mark hung up the phone without another word, staring off into the distance in disbelief. There was no way that was possible… the Red Skrill surely doesn't… well, actually The Coalition didn't know the full extent of the Red Skrill's manufacturing abilities. But even if they had the proper materials, equipment, and means, how did they even design it? Maybe Mark was just overreacting; perhaps they created the tank themselves.

Or at least Mark prayed that they did that, the alternatives were not exactly better.

As Mark prayed to whatever God would listen the motorcade arrived at the Heliport outside of Kavala where an awaiting Venom Huey, the only helicopter available, was waiting. Mark made a mental note to actually get a personal helicopter in the future because having to drive as far as he was or use civilian heliports was getting tedious.

He and his detail boarded the chopper and headed east towards the center of all military and defense action taken in the Coalition, CENTCOM.

CENTCOM or 'Central Command' is the largest underground facility next to the classified location in Northwest Altis. It is the Cheyanne Mountain Complex of the Coalition and has the security to boot. A vault door that weights a combined total of 30-tons, automated gun turrets, an armored division on the exterior with infantry support, and full SAM array.

Even in the event of a disaster, the base can have full communication with anyone outside and issue orders for years before power and rations drain to critical levels.

It also serves as Zeus's 'War Room' in the event of an attack.

When Mark touched down outside the base he made his way inside, something which did require a Jeep to do quickly seeing as the entrance of the base was a tunnel that dug deep into the ground.

But once Zeus was finally inside he gave the order to seal the door; if this attack spread to Altis, he wanted to be sure a general command structure remained so the chaos would be limited.

Mark sighed as he entered the conference esq room and sat at the head. Behind him was a full wall window overlooking a control center and a huge digital map of the three islands with points of interest marked with green lights. Stratis, however, was all red which signified lost contact.

Men and women in the control center were abuzz with activity, running to and fro doing whatever duties were available to them. It was a controlled chaos that Mark used to and always fascinated to watch, but in light of what's happened, he was t busy in thought trying to plot a course of action.

After a moment the door opened back up, and his most esteemed generals and heads of defense marched in and took their seats, some holding files in their hands and talking amongst themselves. Not a single one noticed Mark sitting there.

It wasn't until the man cleared his throat did they all notice and collectively stand from their chairs giving a salute. "At ease… formalities are damned… I want an update, someone, tell me something, anything on the status of Stratis…" Mark said in a tired yet desperate voice.

The head of the Navy, Admiral Mackbar, stood up "Sir, I've just got contact from an assault submarine who confirms sightings of several Russian made Su-25s flying from Stratis followed by Bullhead troop transports. I have the sub patrol the waters nearby to look for any possible ships… hopefully, they can be identified as survivors…"

"Wait… Su-25s?... Frogfoots?... Jesus, I was right, we are dealing with something far more dangerous than simple insurgents. God forbid it's another, hostile Zeus…" Several of the men silently shivered. "But in the case, it's not… It's just like the Malden Island dispute some sixty years ago. We can handle this if we are smart."

"General Wills, I want Malden to be on full alert and Altis Defense Forces doing double patrols, don't let these bastards get the drop on us again." The General nodded and got on his computer, typing away.

"Director Aegis you're on intelligence like usual, find out if this really is the work of a second Zeus or if it's the Red Skrill like I believe. Hell, make sure it's not both." The Director of Intelligence also nodded in understanding and got to work. "The rest of you, figure out what the fuck happened on my island and why and tell me when you get _any_ information." Mark finished.

They followed their leader like sheep and got to work quickly, doing their jobs and tasks as best of their ability, pulling every string they had to get anything they could, all while Zeus sat and think. Like he already asked his Director of Intelligence to figure out, there was one thing that Mark couldn't get out of his mind the entire time he sat there.

Why exactly would they attack him in the first place?

* * *

 **Classified Location, Altis** **  
 **June 23st, 0155 Hours****

Deep under the surface waiting in a quaint little reception sat Summer still dressed in her armored hazmat attire. Around her were several guards both from the base itself and from her personal detail which escorted her here, the telltale differences being that the base guards wore digital camo and her private guard being dressed in black.

The Major in charge walked up in front of Summer to a soldier who was currently on the phone. "What is taking so long?! The transport was supposed to be here by now!" he said in a hushed yell, his frustration level past its peak.

The soldier brought the phone down and covered the receiver "I don't know what the fuck is going on, everyone I've called says there's been an attack and logistics is being diverted!" he said back, equally frustrated.

"What do you mean attack? What attack?" The Major asked in the same tone, although, confused more than angry now.

"I don't know, I'm trying to get more information…" he turned away and went back to speaking on the other line. At that moment, Cole walked into the reception and to the nearby drink machine to get something too, well, drink. "You guys still here?" he asked.

"Yeah, transport is backed up, something about some... attack." The Major said with an air of bewildered confusion.

Cole raised an eyebrow "Attack?"

The officer nodded and sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose through his face cover "Tonight's gonna be a long night…"

Suddenly there was a commotion down the hall where the freight elevator to the surface lied "Hey, who are you!? Show me some-"

All of the sudden the entire corridor lit up in a hail of gunfire and the screams of men being torn to shreds. "What the hell?!" one of the guards exclaimed just before a stray bullet caught him in the neck and he collapsed only feet away from Summer. The woman screamed at the top of her lungs when she saw that, watching with terrified eyes as the life drained from the poor man's punctured throat.

"FUCK ME! ENGAGE ENGAGE!" yelled the officer who began returning fire.

"YOU!" the Major pointed to Cole who had ducked behind the drink machine "GET HER THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!" he ordered the younger soldier, gesturing to Summer who huddled behind a potted plant as guards fell around her, some gurgling on their own lifeblood.

Cole didn't have to be asked twice, the grenadier raising his rifle and putting rounds down range towards whoever was currently shooting back. Cole could only see so much in the hail of bullets and dust being kicked up by ricocheting shots, all he saw were yellow chemical suits with what looked like Russian style armored vests.

In the commotion, Cole didn't bother trying to be gentle with Summer, despite her mental instability, he just grabbed her by the vest and pulled her behind him, slowly leading back and cover firing while shielding her from harm.

Some of the guards tried to aid them, following by example with Cole, only to end up being gunned down. Somehow Cole was lucky and made it to a split in the next corridor deeper in the facility.

He spent his last round and ejected his mag, forcing Summer behind cover while he slammed against the wall himself, bullets flying by. After a moment the firing stopped, and Cole had a chance to breathe while he reloaded.

"She's here, find her! And her daughter!" Cole heard one of them yell through their mask followed by the marching of boots.

Cole was no genius, but he was sure they were talking about Summer.

And after what he heard Zeus talking about the day before he could also guess why…

"Come on, quickly!" Cole hurriedly whispered and took her hand, taking off down the corridor as quiet as they could. Summer was already having an anxiety attack, breathing heavily in her mask. Cole didn't have time to stop and calm her down.

Cole paused as the two of them came up to an intersection in the corridor.

He leaned out carefully and peaked down it seeing the turn off that would lead to Ruby's room, or in other words, a place where they could hold out for a while and possible call for help.

Cole didn't see any of the hazmat clad attackers in the hall or hear any of their heavy footfalls nearby so he and Summer made a mad dash for the turn while trying to be as stealthy as they could. They made it, only for Cole to run into one of the assailants who lept out at him with a fire dust laiden knife, jabbing at Cole and knocking away his weapon.

Summer screamed in shock and backed away while Cole wrestled with the attacker who was for some reason stronger than him despite their similar gait and body shape. Cole was at a disadvantage from the start and was losing badly, the blade already leaving burned gashes in his uniform and on his vest. However, Cole had been in scenarios like this during training, and he knew a way out.

He quickly headbutted the masked assailant and used his split-second window to plant his boots on the attacker's chest and push him off. Before his enemy could get back up, Cole grabbed the loose chemical suit's hood and used it as leverage to smash his head into the corner of the turn off repeatedly.

The attacker went silent swiftly, blood beginning to spill from the cracked mask and to the floor below.

Cole's breathing was quick, on an adrenaline high from the attack and rage-filled fury of caving his attacker's skull in. He quickly collected his weapon after and grabbed Summer's arm pulling her away from the body she stared at, hyperventilating.

The two were in Ruby's room before any of them realized it, Cole facing down the barrel of his previous commander's weapon. "Tom… calm down, it's me…" Cole panted out.

"Jesus Christ all mighty, Cole, what the fuck is going on out there, sounds like a goddamn war!" Tom said extravagantly.

Tom wasn't wrong, despite Cole and Summer's quiet movements, there was still the omnipresent sound of scattered gunfire as the invaders stumbled upon groups of survivors and soldiers as well as the screams of everyone in between.

"I don't know!" Cole answered back "One minute I'm getting a soda and the next we're under fire and the Major apart of her detail ordering me to get her to a safe place!" Cole said pointing to Summer.

"Where is Boon and our charges?" Cole suddenly asked noticing the lack of presence by the three.

"In the bathroom. Ruby, despite my own protests, is up and in her gear. It's damn lucky that that weapon of hers never left the base, I was able to grab it off the cart outside."

"And her sister?"

"Adamit on using her bare fucking hands if it comes to it…" Tom droned out.

"Yes, but that is before you add subsonic gunpowder-based ammunition… you and I both know Aura only holds up so much to it." Tom countered. Cole sighed, remembering the experiments with Aura and conventional weapons from Earth.

Turns out Dust is an exorbitantly weaker alternative gunpowder, one of the reasons that Dust based weapons are a lot quieter compared to gunpowder-based ammunition. The only upside to using Dust is the elemental factor.

"Go tell them to come out, I need a breather…" Cole said tiredly, Tom already at the door before Cole even finished talking.

Tom knocked "Hey, it's safe to come on out." He said.

The locked clicked and boon opened the door cautiously; when he saw his commanding officer, he opened the door fully to reveal Ruby who was fully dressed and had her weapon in its signature 'sniper' mode with Yang who looked as she did before.

"Sir." Boon greeted and was met with a tired wave.

"Mom!" Ruby exclaimed and rushed over to her parent, embracing her tightly. Summer, who was terrified and in need of severe comfort, gladly excepted the hug and nearly crushed her daughter in a vice grip hold. Yang was less quick to join in on the hug, not having her sisters speed, but gladly hugged the both of them with a smile.

Tom sighed and rubbed his temples, trying to figure out what exactly they were going to do. "We are so screwed…" he said, more to himself than the others.

"What do you mean?" Yang chimed in, releasing the hug along with her sister who sat and started to rub her mother's back comfortingly.

"I mean we are currently in an underground facility, surrounded, with no means of escape, and with little contact with the outside world…" Cole said for his companion.

"How'd you know we couldn't contact anybody?" Tom asked.

"Because you would have said something by now," Cole replied, also sighing and pulling his weapon into his lap. "We are going to have to get to the Emergency Exit somehow… it's the only way." Cole said somberly.

"It can't be that hard… can it?" Ruby asked.

"We're surrounded darling, even with your fancy smancy abilities, we'll only get so far with such a large group… and that's not even factoring in if they've already sealed it off…"

"Where does the escape hatch even go out to?" Tom asked suddenly "aren't we like… a mile underground?"

Cole nodded "Yes, but the base was built inside a mountain, and the escape hatch leads to an outlet for sewage…"

"So our glorious escape route will be through a river a shit… anyone bring a paddle?" Boon joked humorlessly.

"Cut the crap Boon, it's not just shit we are going to have to endure, it's the bunch of tangos in our way," Tom said back.

"Tom's right, if they knew this place existed then they know any possible escape routes. We are going to have to fight our way out of here."

Yang took her moment to shine, punching her fist in her hand "We can take 'em, it's just a bunch of dude with guns, what's the big deal."

Tom sighed "For the last fucking time, it's not that fucking simple! These aren't your average dust weapons!"

"So? I've taken down Grimm twice my size before, this'll be a cake walk."

Cole sighed loudly "I don't give a fuck if you took our leader on in a one on one fight and came out without a scratch, you are not going to fucking fight anyone with your bare hands! Even if you had your weapons, I'd still be against it!"

Yang blew it off "Whatever, I can take on your 'precious leader' too…" she said nonchalantly, borderline mocking.

"Ugh, we don't have time for this Yang, just listen to them already so we can get Mom out of here… she looks pretty bad..." Ruby said, holding her mother close. She was right, something was up with Summer, and Cole just picked up on it. She looked abnormally anxious and downright fidgety, which was actually habitual for her in this state, but she was looking around at everything that moved and was clutching the bed sheets tightly.

Cole had seen this before, but with how crazy everything was being, he couldn't remember where.

"Fine Ruby… let's get out of here…" Yang conceded.

"Finally," Tom said, grabbing his gun "Let's get the fuck out of here."

"Yes. Tom, you're with me. Boon, Yang, and Ruby you three will be on Summer. Do not, under any circumstances, let her suit get torn."

The three of them nodded and prepared themselves, Yang lightly grabbing her step-mom's shoulders and guiding her behind Ruby. Boon took up the rear while Tom and Cole led front.

Cole quietly unlocked the door and glanced out into the hall, holding up a fist to keep everyone else in place. When he was sure, the coast was clear he motioned with two fingers to the right and snaked out, head on a swivel and weapon raised at the ready.

Tom did the same as Cole while Boon watched their tail, training his gun on every corner and anything that moved or seemed like it.

Everything seemed quiet, even with the sounds of battle in the distance, the group quickly passing down the halls. Now and then they would pass a body, and the three huntresses' gazes would linger a little longer before Boon nearly bumping into them snapped them out of it.

Cole peaked down another hallway intersection then rapidly he pressed himself against the wall and shot up a fist to signal everyone to stop.

Down the hall, there was two fireteams worth of combatants just standing about and waiting for orders, all armed and dressed with Russian designed armor and weapons. The only thing that didn't look Russian on them was the bright yellow chemical suits.

The more he looked, the more he got confused. Everything about these guys screamed military, the subtle actions, the way they carried themselves, the equipment. However, there were no Russian units in the Coalition, and those chemical suits didn't even look like Coalition design.

Tourists. They had to be from the mainland, looking at the air filtration units of the suits Cole saw elements that incorporated Dust. But how in the world did these Tourists even find out about the facility, let alone the island?

Cole shook his head. It didn't matter, at least not now, questions like that can be answered later when they weren't in danger.

Cole signaled the others how many there were then jabbed a finger to the other side of the corridor. Tom nodded and raised his rifle. When Cole gave the signal, Tom rushed to the other side and took cover on the other corner of the intersection.

He nodded to Cole who nodded back, inserting an HE round into his under barrel grenade launcher and turned back to his second squad member and the three charges. "Ruby, stay behind us and cover your sister and mother, Boon on me." He whispered quietly.

Ruby prepared her rifle and nodded while boon silently moved up and set his rifle. It was showtime.

Cole stepped out, and the familiar 'thunk' of the grenade launcher was heard followed by the resulting explosion and the screams of those affected. Cole retook cover as a swarm of bullets flew down the hall, ricocheting off the walls.

"COVERING FIRE!" Cole yelled. Tom and he peeked out and opened fire on the remaining soldiers… and then Cole saw the exact effect his grenade had. Three were unmistakably dead, one writhing in pain from shrapnel, the rest were returning fire.

Boon, under cover of his friends, ran out and began firing, moving to the protection of an abandoned cart in the hall. Tom popped his mag "Reloading! Cover me!" he yelled while taking cover.

Cole nodded and mover out, Ruby taking his place and aiming down the hall; cole then got behind Boon and took several pot shots down the hall.

And this is where their luck took a turn. The gunfire attracted several other soldiers from around the area, including a few on Tom's flank which forced the Corporal to take cover behind an overturned bench.

Ruby decided to lend her own unique form of aid in the form of high impact sniper caliber rounds. While dust was, in fact, significantly weaker than ballistic rounds, the simple fact was .50 BMG dust rounds were still _very_ effective.

Several of the anti-material rounds were fired down the hall, knocking back anyone they hit, sometimes knocking them clear into the back wall. Ruby smile widened with each pull of the trigger. Just by how the weapon felt with firing she could tell that whoever cleaned and repaired her weapon did so as affectionately and thoroughly as she did.

She allowed herself a small giggle as she continued firing, occasionally switching from one hall to another and knocking down oncoming attackers as well as knocking out the occasional poor bastard.

Summer clung to her eldest daughter and kept her eyes shut the entire time, trying to control her ongoing panic. Meanwhile, Yang being Yang was getting increasingly jealous of everyone who was fighting.

She rarely ever sat on the sidelines during a fight, always the quote un-quote "Frontman" of Team RWBY. Always in the face of Grimm and subsequently beating the shit out of them.

He patience finally got to her, and she smiled smugly. It was time to show these soldiers what she was made of.

"Mom," she said, getting Summer's attention "Wait here ok? I'll be right back." She said in a reassuring tone. Summer, not wanting to lose the only comforting thing she could get a hold of shook her head violently, something Yang ignored as she pried herself from he mom's grasp.

She stood up and let out a battle cry, sprinting down the hall Cole and Boon were covered in, the two only catching a glimpse of the yellow themed woman before she was too far to stop. "WAIT STOP, NO!" Cole yelled.

Now the center of everyone's attention, the hazmat clad soldiers switched their focus on Yang.

Everything happened in a split second. It all seemed to happen in slow motion.

The front-most soldier, wielding the Russian standard AK-74, let out an automatic burst which caught Yang in the lower stomach, causing her to stumble. Another burst shot from another soldier wielding an AKM hit her in the shoulder, shattering her Aura and knocking her back.

And finally, a single round from another AK-74 caught her in the gut and passed straight through her body tearing a disgusting hole in her back and sending her to the ground motionless.

Cole and Boon were at a loss for words, never taking their eyes off her as she helplessly collapsed.

Tom continued firing as more en poured towards them from his position, totally unaware of what happened.

"YANG!" Ruby nearly screamed, her voice sounding like a hushed echo in the chaos.

The men down the hall just ignored Yang's lifeless body and began advancing on Cole and Boon who were still overcoming the shock of what they witnessed.

And in the middle of it, all was Summer, who had watched her daughter run out heroicly to try and save them… only to be cut down like a tall blade of grass.

Something in Summer cracked… like a barrier being struck by a giant hammer.

Ruby, whose eyes were glued on her sister, tried to step out, to run to her and help her, only to be pushed back by more gunfire. Tears streamed down her face like rivers as it got increasingly harder to focus, her potshots becoming more and more scattered.

The barrier cracked again.

Yang, who had been on the ground, stunned, tried to roll over only to scream in agony as her bloody wound shifted.

The barrier cracked even more.

As the soldiers advance closer to Cole and Boon, who were pinned down by a hail of bullets they passed Yang. One of them took notice of her and placed a boot on her chest, causing her to scream in agony.

The barrier cracked to the point of breaking.

Slowly that same soldier brought his weapon to bear, barrel aimed right at Yang's head.

And suddenly… the barrier shattered.

In a split second Summer remembered everything, knew everything… and immediately the protective mother in her came out, and she stood up in the intersection, in full view of everyone.

"CEASE FIRE! IT'S THE TARGET!" one of the attackers yelled, most likely a commander.

The soldier that was about to kill Yang switched his attention to Summer and raised his rifle on her as everyone else did. Cole, Boon, Tom, even Ruby were staring at Summer like she grew a second head not expecting something the likes of this to unfold.

She had a fire in her eyes that could burn a hole through steel, and glare so venomous it could kill a village.

"Get away from my daughter…" she spoke, her tone so cold that Cole even shivered a little.

"Stand down lady… you're surrounded!" the same commander yelled, "Come quietly, and we might let the others live…"

Summer didn't speak, she barely moved… and then suddenly, all everyone saw were white rose petals scattered through the hall… and the commander with his own combat knife driven in his skull, Summer wielding the blade.

Several of the men jumped back from the sight. Meanwhile, Cole and the others were slackjawed at what transpired. None of them even had a chance to blink before the enemy commander was dead.

"Oum above!" one of the enemies yelled, training their weapon on Sumer again only to suddenly be relieved of that rifle and have the same combat knife driven through his mask and ending his existence.

Now armed, Summer went on a rampage, the only sight being men getting killed by their own weapons and a flurry of white petals that looked like a stray snowstorm was blown into the facility. It was over before it began, the soldiers not even getting a chance to run for their lives before Summer was upon them.

When it was over their bodies were strewn around the halls nearby, all torn apart by Summer's brutal killing spree, Summer in the center breathing heavily and coated in the blood of her victims.

Yang made another pained whimper and Summer turned around, immediately switching from protective mother to caring in a fraction of the second. "Sweetie!" she cried, rushing over and lifting her up into her arms carefully, stroking her hair out of her face. "It's ok, mommy's here, it's ok."

Cole and the rest of them took their time in walking over, giving Summer wary looks of uncertainty except Ruby who cautiously put a shaky hand on Summer's shoulder "Mom?" Se asked, hopeful "You… you remember us now?" she offered.

Summer nodded, crying a little in both concern for her eldest child and joy that she was with her beloved children "Yes baby… I remember." She said, Yang, making her current state known once again with a pained wail. "Oh, honey… it's ok… Cole was it? Can you help her?" She asked, the man in question shaking out of his stupor and looking at the wound.

"Yes… luckily it was a through and through, clean as well… Boon get me a clip from one of those men, Tom, I need some bandages and your Zippo."

"How did you-" Cole stopped Tom before he could continue "Tom, you and I both know you never fully quit, I don't particularly care, just give me your Zippo."

Boon returned with a clip of 5.45 caliber rounds, and Tom pulled out bandages from his FAK as well as his Zippo "Ok, Boon, break the tips off all those shots and dump the powder onto these bandages, quickly."

Boon nodded and quickly went to work, taking the bullets apart while Cole went over the wound. Again, he was no doctor or medic, but in a situation like this, he could make do. "Right… Yang? Can you hear me."

He got another whimper and whine from Yang as an answer.

"Listen… what I'm going to do is going to hurt worse than anything you have ever felt. But right now it's all I can offer on short notice, and it'll limit your chance of infection…"

"Wat, are you going to do?" Ruby asked.

"I'm going to field cauterize the wound. It's all I can do, we have little time before more men show up."

Ruby looked at him wide-eyed but said no more, Summer didn't even say anything, knowing that this was better than nothing and quicker in sealing the wound. She had also done it before on a girl about Ruby's age using fire dust a long time ago, so she was no stranger to it.

Boon handed him a bandage full of gunpowder which Cole quickly split into two and dusted a half onto her first wound. "Hold her down…" Cole said, flipping the lid of the lighter with a telltale click.

Ruby got on her knees and placed her arms on Yang's shoulders while Summer held her arms. Cole Lit the lighter and quickly ignited the gunpowder which flashed brightly and instantly sealed the wound. The result caused Yang to scream loudly which made Cole wince and shake his head.

He repeated the process on her back, dusting the rest of the powder on her wound and lit it making Yang scream even louder.

Ruby closed her eyes, tears streaming down her face, Summer only faring marginally better with keeping a straight face, but you could see in her eyes she so badly just wanted to scoop her daughter up and comfort her.

Luckily the shock finally set in from all the pain and the blond brawler fell unconscious in Summer's arms.

Cole sighed again "Let's get out of here, we're running out of time."

All of them were in agreement, Summer electing to carry Yang showing testament to her natural strength. Yang wasn't exactly heavy but she was defiantly bigger than her short-statured step-mother.

Cole and Tom took up the front again with Boon in the rear as they all made their way down the corridors for a second time, moving closer to their escape which was only a few more passages away.

Ruby and Summer kept close together, the latter worried about her sister and her state. While her wounds were closed, it wasn't a permanent fix, Cole knew that from the start, but it would keep her somewhat stable until they got to a medical unit capable of treating her.

All of them were in the home stretch now, one more passageway to go before the emergency exit that would lead to freedom was in sight. Cole and Tom let themselves smile, they were going to make it.

But as Cole peaked around the net corner his smile immediately fell. Deep down he knew it was just too easy, making it this far with only one casualty.

He also wondered to himself where this amount of enemy soldiers even came from, there were just too many to the grenadier to all fit in that single freight elevator. That's because they didn't only originate from the elevator.

Blocking the door that led to their freedom was a hastily built barricade with a DShK static gun set up with a full crew. From the entry came more and more hazmat clad men, all grouping up into squads and moving out down other halls that were nearby, several commanders going over what looked like maps of the facility.

Their way home was gone, up the creek of shit it actually was and disappearing in the distance. They were all trapped.

Tom looked at him worriedly and hesitantly asked "What is it?" his voice hushed to keep their cover.

"…We're trapped…" was all Cole said in return, his voice hollow and defeated "Mounted gun… endless soldiers pouring in… there's no way out…"

Tom looked at him surprised and turned to the others whose faces were all twisted in looks of fear and worry. Tom shook his head and looked at the ground, closing his eyes in defeat.

All of the sudden Boon looked back, and his eyes widened "Conta-!" he never got to finish before he was silenced by a spray of bullets which peppered his body, killing him almost instantly. The rest of them crouched down as more bullets came flying towards them.

Alerted by the gunfire, the mounted gun began hoseing the hallway in front of it with bullets, efficiently pinning everyone.

Ruby began firing back at the soldiers that spotted them, terrified for her life and the lives of her family. Summer shielded her daughter while Cole moved in front of them and began firing. "TOM WE NEED COVER!" He yelled over the chaos.

Tom saw some potential cover over on the other side of the hall. Risking it, he got up and sprinted to a closed door none of them saw before and crashed through it screaming in the process as a bullet tore into his leg.

"RUBY! GET SUMMER ACROSS! I'LL COVER!"

"But!-"

"NO BUTS, GO!" Cole yelled

Ruby looked at him a moment before leading her mother and sister to what looked like a supply closet, Cole spraying the hall wildly, even taking out his sidearm to add to the hail of bullets.

When Ruby was clear, he began to move towards the room and took a bullet to the arm causing him to drop his rifle. He continued firing his 9mm sidearm at the approaching men and took another shot to the knee causing him to stumble to one knee as he moved.

His pistol clicked dry, and he threw at them, diving into the room and scooting against the wall beside the door.

Tom pulled out his own sidearm, a Taurus .357 revolver. Cole opened the chamber and checked the rounds before flicking it shut and leaning against the wall breathing heavily.

He peeked out and saw his friends corpse, lying lifelessly at the other end of the hall. He pulled his head back in and hit his head against the wall and let out a frustrated forlorn yell, resting his good wrist against his head holding the pistol loosely.

He pulled it back down and looked at Ruby which had her scythe at the ready and summer who sat behind them holding her eldest daughter close and defensively.

Tom was currently making use of his tac-belt, sacrificing loose pants to staunch the bleeding on his leg. Once he was finished, he brought his weapon back up and looked out into the hall to see if anybody was getting closer.

Cole pulled back the hammer on his gun and kept it trained on one side, still breathing heavily.

Now they were truly trapped and low on ammunition.

Neither Tom or Cole knew if they could hold out until help comes. If it even does, their hopes were not high.

Both of them wholeheartedly believed that this was going to be their last night alive… but what they didn't know is that help was actually on the way.

* * *

 **Coalition CENTCOM, Altis** **  
 **June 23st, 0212 Hours****

Mark sat and waited patiently for an update on the status of Stratis and how exactly a bunch of Tourists got their hands on Russian equipment.

There wasn't much he could do other than wait as his generals and staff worked tirelessly around him, he wasn't that technical he was the man that sat in the big chair and made the tough decisions for the good of his country.

So there Mark sat, hands clasped together in front of him, his head resting against his knuckles as he watched the ongoing organized chaos that unfolded around him.

Upon the vast map, several markers indicated the multiple fleet groups and submarines that Mark's naval command had available. Most were converging on Stratis trying to get a read on the situation.

Some of the more massive defense fleets stayed close to the Altis coasts to defend them in case of an attack on their shores. So far it has been quiet since the attack, no other attempts on his territory were made. Which was strange to Mark.

Mark believed that if the enemy thought they had the upper hand in the battle, then they would attempt to at least prod his defenses or make a move. However, there wasn't a peep from them after Stratis fell which made Mark wonder. Why not push even further? Were they gearing up for another attack? What exactly was going on?

Suddenly a phone nearby rang loudly and a loose general that Mark couldn't name picked it up and answered. After a moment of listening his face grew more and more shocked by the second. He then pulled the phone away from his face and addressed Zeus.

"Sir, the complex in the Northwest is under attack!" he said.

Mark stood up "What?!" he yelled "General Stag! Where is Project Rose Thorns!? Has Summer been transported back to her containment facility?!" he asked urgently, the general in question picking up a phone and dialing in a number "I don't know, last I heard from my people she was being prepped for transport." He said in a marginally calm tone.

"I need to know now dammit! She cannot fall into the hands of the enemy, not when she's still contaminated!" Mark replied back furiously. He had a right to be this angry, his home and his people were needlessly attacked, and his patience was wearing thin.

After a few tense moments, Stag slammed the receiver back on the phone, nearly breaking it in the process "Son of a bitch! The transport never made it! She's still there!" he yelled.

Mark said nothing and stormed out of the room, some of his personal guard rushing to catch him, General Stag not far behind him. "Mark. Mark! CHIEF HARRISON!"

"WHAT!?" Mark yelled, rolling on the general who took a step back in surprise. Mark took a breath, realizing that his temper was getting to him, he calmed down. "Sorry… what is it?"

"Where are you going… you aren't about to do what I think you are going to do, are you?" the general asked with ripe concern.

"What else is there to do… these bastards attacked and killed the people I took an oath to protect… and now they are threatening guest in my country as well ass the world itself… I can't risk them taking Summer and using her against the world, or risk men trying to storm a facility I designed with protection in mind, it would be a bloodbath… I have to do this… if not for the sake of good but for the sake of the lives lost tonight…" Mark spoke slowly, his voice barely above a whisper.

The general gave him a look which mark couldn't read then sighed, bowing his head and closing his eyes "Alright Mark… but be careful…"

The Commander nodded and began walking down the hall again, this time alone ass he waved his guards off.

After only a few short moments he walked down a seemingly abandoned hallway that was just barely well kept it seemed, a lot of boxes with dates going all the way back to the Cold War on Earth and beyond.

He came upon a door with no handle, only a keypad. Once he entered a specific code in the door's lock, there was a loud chime followed by an even more emphatic 'Thunk' heard in the door as the lock disengaged and the door popped open.

As Mark slowly pushed the door open, letting light in the room for the first time in a very long time, mark saw a footlocker which had his name and rank from when he served under the US military long, long ago.

He smiled fondly and approached the dust-covered green crate and opened it's sealed lid.

It was time to enter the field once again…


	6. Chapter 6: To Wound a God part 2

**Facility Emergency Exit, Northwest Altis  
June 23st, 0220 Hours**

Outside the base with bullheads at the ready and a small army of soldiers sat the operation commander of the Red Skrill, able to be defined in the crowd along with his fellow captains by the bright orange color of their hazmat suits.

He was well respected in the terrorist organization, able to get anything he wanted through manipulation and brute force. Other soldiers just knew him by his nickname, the Stubborn Bull, mainly because he was a bull Faunus.

He smiles as more men poured into the tunnels to retrieve their target. Latest reports say that they had her and the secondary objective pinned in a closet near their infiltration point. Perfect.

It was only a matter of time before they were snuffed out and captured so they can harness the power of the legendary weapon of the Faunus. With it, they can finally rid the planet of the vile scum of the human race and bring forth an era where Faunus rule.

Getting information about the weapon was a surprise, but before it could be seized a Huntress was already sent to recover it. Only two soldiers made it back from the mission telling them about where the craft went.

Immediately several Bullheads armed with anti-aircraft weapons were sent to down the craft and were successful, but the storm in the region prevented them from recovering it before this… the new island got the weapon first.

After a few years of recon, it was plain that the island was too well defended to blindly assault it. They needed information, and a means to actually fight these new humans. That way was discovered during a risky operation on one of their smaller islands, getting the intel on several secret facilities and new weapons and equipment that would prove useful.

He just wished that whoever he sent copied the file on the weapons and equipment as opposed to taking them, the fool nearly blew the whole operation and forced them to act even faster in executing the plan.

Building and manufacturing these new weapons was easy, they had several secret facilities scattered across remnant that was capable of constructing all of them. Granted this 'gunpowder' propellant was unheard and particularly hard to produce, they managed, and the commander couldn't be more pleased with how it performs.

Once everything was set, they put their plan into action only for it to rapidly change when they learned that the daughter of the target was on the island. The commander saw an opportunity to use the daughter as a means to force the target to later spread the disease and adjusted accordingly.

It was harder to find this base than the one the objective was kept initially, but again he and his men were able to manage, using the chaos of their surprise attack as a distraction to lay low and move quickly without being seen.

Now, everything was falling into place, once the weapon was secured they could leave this wretched island and return home to further plan for the annihilation of humankind.

"Sir?" a low-level private asked, getting the commander's attention from talking with another captain.

"What is it private?" he said, voice rich with authority and pride.

"It's probably nothing, but… those clouds seem… strange to me… don't they?" he asked.

The commander looked at the clouds that the private mentioned and now that the commander looked, they were strange. They were dark clouds, only barely visible in the moonlight of the early morning. What was strange was the way that they moved; they were shifting against the wind, something that clouds aren't meant to do.

Suddenly the entire wall of clouds lit up in a display of lighting that branched out deep in the cloud which then shook the air with a loud roar of thunder which sounded… off, like it wasn't truly thunder but something more powerful.

The commander gazed at the cloud with an air of scrutiny, analyzing how it moved and acted. The clouds made him feel uneasy, his captains eyed upon the cloud in similar concern. The storm would prove difficult to fly through in the Bullheads not impossible, but difficult.

But that was an issue for later, the captain turned back to the private "It does look strange, however, we will have to deal with it later. We must focus on our objective first."

The private said no more than a "Yes sir." And saluted by putting a fist over his heart and returning to his work.

The captain turned back the captain he was speaking to when all of the sudden.

 ** _KROOM!_**

The commander was deafened by what sounded like an explosion plus its now fading shockwave nearby and he looked over to see one of the Bullheads was reduced to a flaming pile of burnt and twisted metal. Several men that were close by were dead, killed by the intense shockwave the explosion had.

"WHAT THE-"

He never got to finish what he was saying as he watched a bolt of lightning strike the next Bullhead over, the blast big enough to flip the aircraft on its head before it too exploded in a fiery display.

Then, two more lightning strikes happened close together on the last of their transports, the heavier versions of the bullheads exploding more violently as their larger fuel reserves ignited.

The radio nearby crackled to life, the second team at the entrance of the facility calling them in a panic " _Commander! This is Team A! We've lost our transports, some freak storm! What are our orders!_ " he heard, deducing that the same thing had happened to them.

He grabbed the transmitter and brought it up "The same thing happened here! But we cannot falter now, stick to the plan! We will requisition ourselves transport from the humans here! Do you hear me?!" He said, his anger boiling.

" _Yes, sir! But what- wait… what is that! OH GOD NO- krrrzk_ " the radio cut out with that final message.

"Team A! TEAM A! son of a, WHAT IS GOING ON!?"

Suddenly one of the soldiers pointed to the slope of a shorter mountain opposite to them "Sir, what is that!?"

The commander looked, and in the distance, he could see a light on the mountain, it was unnatural and bright, a brilliant blue in color. There was another strike of lightning that lit up the whole landscape for a moment and it brightened up the slope long enough to make out a lone figure on the hill.

It was a person as far as they could tell, with something on its head that was giving off the bright glow they all saw in the dark.

Another strike of lightning, this time in the vicinity of the figure and suddenly it was gone like it was never there. It didn't take a genius to know that something strange was happening, something unnatural.

And then, there was a gunshot followed by the scream of one of the commander's men, he looked over and saw several men rushing over to help, some guns waving around and scanning the dark. Five men approached the wounded soldier, one crouching down to check the wound.

But the man didn't see anything wrong with the soldier, only blood smeared on his hazmat suit. Curiously the man looked up at the ask of his companion only for it to ignite in a bright blue, the last thing the man saw before the faux Faunus drew a forty magnum and shot him in the head.

The others were quick to react but not quick enough. Almost like lightning the disguised soldier aimed at each of them and shot them as well, four bodies hitting the dirt.

Others around exclaimed and opened fire on the attacker, pouring lead his way desperately trying to kill him.

The commander stepped back as he watched the new threat disappeared in a blue flash only to appear elsewhere dressed in new gear.

Dread filled the commander's being; he recognized the person before them, the leader of this island and its government. There have only been spoken rumors of this man, none was ever proven, but none ever described something like this.

He was seen a great warrior by his people, a man held in high respects of everyone around him, said to have led entire armies to victory and feared on the battlefield.

They only knew this from their deep seeded agents, those who got goodie goodie with the higher brass of this islands who regaled them in such rumors that were later relayed to their central command.

He stood in the now pelting rain dressed in a hunter's coat and baseball cap, eyes bright blue and glowing in the night, face bearing a scowl that was directed at every soldier here. The commander was staring in the face of an actual god among men… and he had enticed his wrath.

* * *

 **Coalition Private Reserve, Northwest Altis  
June 23st, 0220 Hours**

Mark gazed upon the mountain in the distance, a project that he was greatly proud of and somewhat saddened by. Long ago, way back during the Cold War on Earth, he needed an auxiliary base of operations. This was before he chose the CENTCOM location as it is today which is actually in a much better location than this base.

Mark had seized the mountainous region and deconstructed nearby civilian architecture to make it into a private reserve, ripe for a base such as this, and when it was in its hay day it could provide more than enough for the Coalition.

Now it was an 'Area 51' of sorts, which saddened Mark because he really prefers this base as opposed to the new one.

What's done is done, however, and Mark has to live with the decisions that he's made.

He smiled fondly at old memories of the place, memories that were soured when his eyes flicked over to the only visible military section on the mountain, a large helipad that led to an indented blast door which was, well, blasted open.

He scowled at the bastards that defiled his creation with their needless campaign and his blood began to boil. He could see a total of three 'Bullheads' on the pad and an undetermined amount of soldiers who were milling about. Easy pickings.

But Mark knew better, these soldiers were capable, yes, but this base was built on defense and he knew that they didn't just use that tiny force to cut through his men. There had to be more.

So he looked down at the base of the mountain towards the West and saw their second attack force that had blown a hole into the escape tunnels and was flooding in using larger bullheads. How they were able to find that was beyond Mark but the man didn't care, all he cared about was saving the rest of those trapped inside the tomb his base had become.

Mark closed his eyes and took a deep breath through his nose, exhaling through his mouth slowly, mentally preparing himself for what was about to come.

Slowly behind him, darkened clouds began to form, blocking out the moon and making the once bright night into pitch darkness, the land only visible to those with natural night vision or special equipment. Mark was using the later of the two.

Mark felt the power behind the storm, actually felt it. It was coursing through his very being, begging him to come out.

Above him, the clouds flashed and thundered violently as the storm continued to grow and fester above him. And then Mark raised his hand and, well, pointed.

As if the storm was sentient it followed the direction of his finger and started to move slowly, still growing, still flashing with brilliant bolts of electricity and raw natural power.

And then the show began.

Mark watched as these bolts sudden started striking the ground, specifically targeting their transports and completely destroying them all. He even allowed himself a small smile as he heard the distant screams of men dying in the blasts. Karma was collecting its due for them.

Mark then waited. Watched as the storm covered everything visible, turning the whole landscape into a dark and black void, only lit by the flashes of lightning for brief moments.

Once he saw the last of the natural moonlight fade in the storm he acted.

One moment he was on the next mountain over, the next he was on the helipad he was watching, back to the burning wreck of one of their Bullheads. He saw a soldier on the radio turn and look at him. He only screamed "What is that!" before Mark charged.

Mark never caught what he said when he charged but it didn't matter. He didn't have the vocal cords to speak anymore, removed by the serrated edge of an old-fashioned Trench Knife.

The others in the area tried to react, but Mark was gone before a shot could even be fired. He was then back on the hillside again, having removed communication between the two groups. The first group wouldn't last long alone, not against the Special Forces that suddenly 'appeared' in wake of Mark's disappearance.

He could already see the tracers as the silenced weapons opened fire on the now surrounded forces up top.

Mark then turned his attention to the base of the mountain near the sewer line that doubled as an escape route, a plan witch Mark implemented in the sewer out of necessity as opposed to choice; there was no more room to dig out another tunnel.

He saw the soldiers down there were also in a panic as well, unaware that the reaper was standing nearby ready to reap their souls. Mark was unaware of it, but his most noticeable trait, that being his glowing eyes, had started to show in the dark.

Marl only realized this when he saw a few of the yellow-clad soldiers turn and look at him. All he did in return was glare directly at them all.

He then disappeared again as a lightning strike from the storm stroked near him and he decided to play the trick card. He mimicked a gunshot witched echoed across the area and then he screamed loudly in faux pain. His body was then suddenly clad in the same orange hazmat of the soldiers around him and topped it off with fake blood.

Now he waited, huddled down and 'writhing' in pain from the fake wounds.

Then he waited as several men took notice of him and approached weapons at the ready. One crouched down and inspected the nonexistent wound on his lower chest. Suddenly he looked up at Mark's face only to see the same blue glow of his eyes.

That was the last thing he saw before he died along with the others that came to help him.

And then Mark was gone again and back, now dressed in his normal equipment and equipped with a standard SCAR-L with minimal attachments. Nobody had a chance to react, only to scream in surprise before Mark switched off his safety and fired, the specialized bullets of his weapon passing clean through Aura and bodies like a molten knife through butter.

Shot after shot, never running full automatic and never missing. Mark pinpointed every single discharge of his weapon, the rounds finding their exact mark no matter how much he jerked or twisted in place.

A lot of the men didn't even get to raise their rifles fully before falling to the ground dead as a doornail, and Mark enjoyed knowing he caught them off guard.

Payback for what they did to the island of Stratis.

And when a few got the chance to actually fire, Mark was gone again, appearing somewhere else and cutting down more and more men. The process repeated again and again until the number dwindled to nothing, only left being those clad in yellow which mark already knew were commanders of sorts, all unarmed and looking at him in fear.

Mark approached, somewhat drenched in the blood of those he slaughtered, looking like a demon from Hell come for their souls.

He stopped in front of them, only one standing straight while the others used him as a shield, obviously hoping their more or less calm leader will protect them. "Remove your mask…" Mark demanded. Slowly the Faunus did, revealing that he was, in fact, a Faunus, two small bull horns on his head and a stereotypical gold ring piercing in his nose.

"So you are the Red Skrill… thought as much."

"Yes… we are a part of the Red Skrill." The Faunus spoke.

"Well. In that case, as per the Coalition War Criminal Act of 2001, you are hereby placed under arrest pending trial by a court of law for the involvement of violent actions committed against the Coalition and its people."

As Mark said this several dark clothed Special Forces soldiers came from the darkness and grabbed several of the men behind the commander, handcuffing them and forcing them to the ground. They did not touch the commander, however.

"Will you harm my men…?" the commander asked, voice monotone and not conveying any emotion.

Mark answered, "No, as per the act, Coalition forces are not allowed to harm prisoners of war until charged or until the war with their country has concluded and they are allowed to return home."

A soldier then cuffed the commander and forced him to his knees "…How can I rust a filthy human the likes of you."

"Because… I'm not even human." Mark's eyes flashed blue for a second and he walked past the prisoners and the spec-ops men who stood at attention and barely moved, almost as if they were mechanical.

The commander watched him leave, expression never changing, but deep down he was shocked. How can he not be human? What exactly was he then?

* * *

 **Escape Tunnel Entrance, Altis  
June 23st, 0227 Hours**

Mark had made his way through the dredge and gunk that filled to main sewer line with ease, all the Faunus soldiers that were ordered to go in already at their positions at the entrance. None of them knew that Mark was encroaching on them silently in the tunnels, eyes aglow in a brilliant blue.

He rounded the last corner and saw two Faunus watching the escape door.

Mark didn't even hesitate, drawing a silenced sidearm and putting two well-placed shots down range, their bodies slumping against a grate and sliding down quietly, the shell casings from his weapon landing in the water, barely making a sound.

As he came to the door he stacked up, peeking in to see the mounted gun and several of the hazmat clad Faunus aiming their weapons at something down a hall further down.

Mark pulled back and looked across at the once empty now occupied spot to see a man dressed in heavy juggernaut armor wielding a massive fifty caliber, ammo belt leading to a large pack being carried by another soldier.

He nodded to the Juggernaut and the man silently walked out and stood in the doorway.

Mark didn't have to look to know what happened when the harmonious sound of a fifty caliber machine gun pumping lead filled his ears. Huge swaths of fifty caliber bullets filled the halls and easily ripped massive gore filled holes in the soldiers.

Men screamed in absolute agony before they died thereafter of extreme lead poison and massive external hemorrhaging.

Slowly the Juggernaut started to march into the hall while returning fire bounced harmlessly off the armor he wore. The soldier carrying his ammo used him as a shield against the oncoming fire, carrying the heavy ammo can as it slowly but surely got lighter and lighter, brass casing clatter against the floor in a symphony of ringing.

It only stopped when the last of the soldiers stopped moving and the once white hall was painted red in blood and viscera from the mauling.

Mark walked forward slowly, loudly, making his steps heard because e he knew that it was not over. The dead around him was only half of the forces that were here, more had to be on the other side cornering whoever was there.

He was right. Once he rounded the corner he looked directly at every one of the soldiers there, eyes glowing in a hate-filled glare that most likely made several standing there soil themselves. They had helplessly watched as their fellow comrades were cut down like grass. And the way they perceived it all of that was caused all by this one man right in front of them.

Not a single one of them dared to move. They all just watched him… Waiting… For anything to happen.

After some time spent sizing up all of them, Mark spoke, his tone caring more authority than probably necessary. "If you wish to survive… you will all drop your weapons immediately…"

The sound of dozens of weapons hitting the ground was so sudden and loud it sounded more like someone had dumped a crate of AKs out than several men simply placing their weapons down.

Mark smiled and said nothing as several spec ops soldiers rounded the corner behind him, weapons raised, ordering the Faunus soldiers to place their hands behind their heads.

Mark walked with them and looked down at the body of Boon, his body riddled with more holes than before due to crossfire. He crouched down and placed a hand on his still warm corpse and closed his eyes.

He looked back up at Tom who was being helped by Cole with his one good arm, Yang being carried by her mother and Ruby still holding her weapon tight and staying close to her mother, her eyes glazed over as she looked around at the bodies.

Mark grabbed the dog tags of Boon and tore them off before standing straight again and walking over to the battle-fatigued group. Cole and Tom went to salute but Mark stopped them. "No… I am not deserving of respect the likes of that… not after what has happened here today."

Mark looked at the three tourists, Summer giving him an inscrutable look. He turned back to Cole and held out the dog tags, Tom reaching out and taking.

Mark bowed his head and without saying another word turned and left, being replaced with a team of combat medics who began taking the wounded out through the now cleared entrance elevator, placing a cover over Boon's body to later be collected.

Mark left the way he came, by simply vanishing. Where he ended up was nowhere on Altis, Malden, or even Stratis.

As of now, naval elements and marines were in the process of retaking the last of the three islands, actual human divisions were in the process of transport to the compound he just left to begin clean up and damage control.

He left command of the island to his counsel and his military staff, knowing that if anything came up they would easily handle it.

Mark, on the other hand, had come to a place where he could be alone, if just for a moment.

It was on an uninhabited island that was under the Coalition's control, abandoned after the Cold War and Malden campaign due to its low strategic value and condition. He looked down at the two cities the island once had, now overgrown and rundown buildings.

The island's name was lost to Mark, a footnote in the history of the Coalition because of its unimportance. He stood at the peak of a mountain, the island's only notable feature, and just looked out at the pitch black sea deep in thought.

He thought how he was unable to keep his promise.

He thought how he was going to take care of Summer and her family.

He thought how he was going take care of the Red Skrill and retaliate.

He thought about how this entire incident would affect his nation… his people.

He just stood there for whoever knows how long while his well-oiled machine of a government worked tirelessly to bounce back from what happened.

He didn't even realize the sun was rising until a glint from a pond nearby flashed in his eye and he actually paid attention to the world around him.

He still had no clue what to do… but with the morning rolling around and his people waking up he needed to be back. A press conference was in order to explain what happened on Stratis and the lesser known facility that housed his charges.

Many things were going to change, not a single one of them were good. All Mark could hope for was that it wouldn't lead to chaos.

* * *

 **Outside Kavala City Hall, Altis  
June 23th, 0913 Hours**

It was only hours after the attack and already the whole island and abroad knew about it and people were uneasy and afraid. If something wasn't done to quell the panic then it would divulge into pandemonium and riots would then ensue. So to solve the issue, Zeus called an early Press conference.

Even with how hastily it was prepared the conference stage was in perfect condition and was posted with several of Zeus's personal guards.

In front of the stage were the few press channels that supply the Coalition with its everyday news reports. Even so, with all the media conjugated on one spot, there was still a large crowd.

And that crowd suddenly erupted in a barrage of questions as Zeus walked out flanked by Seth and his Chief political advisor.

"Chief Harrison! Chief Harrison!" a woman for the Altis Nation News cried "Is it true?! Has Stratis been attacked by forces from the mainland?!" she screamed.

"Chief Harrison! Rumors have spread that a secret military installation was attacked by these same forces, can you confirm these rumors!?" a man from the Daily Trumpet, a popular newspaper that is mainly on Malden.

Questions like those and more piled up on one another until Zeus was finally able to calm them down enough to speak. He cleared his throat and straightened out a small set of papers that were actually blank, the where just there for aesthetic.

"Ladies and Gentlemen of the Coalition… at exactly 23:54 hours yesterday morning a brutal and devastating attack hit Stratis forcing a full-scale evacuation and retreat. It is still unknown how many casualties there were in the attack or the number of damages. Estimates so far are in the thousands of casualties and billions of dollars in damage."

The people were respectfully quiet, waiting and listening as all this was broadcasted live around the coalition.

"As of right now we still haven't fully reclaimed Stratis from the Hostile forces, but reports have come back claiming that these forces are pulling out in full retreat."

A few of the crowd looked at each other in confusion. With such a foothold why would they pull out?

"It is believed that the attack on Stratis was a ruse from the start, a ploy to direct attention from the real target which was on Altis. Due to military classification, I cannot go into specifics about what they were after."

The newspaper reporters were furiously writing down notes desperate to get every juicy detail they could as it came to them.

"…As the leader of this great nation, I take full responsibility for everything that has happened. It is believed that they stole classified schematics from us which I should have kept under better guard and then used them to create weapons to use against us. If I had caught this theft earlier I could have prevented this bloody string of events that happened to us… I am sorry."

Several people in the crowd looked at their leader in shock, jaws open wide enough to catch flies, one of the cameramen actually having to quickly readjust because he dipped a little. A few were sympathetic for their leader; even if he says that it was his fault the schematics were stolen. That doesn't mean he should be blamed for the attack, he wasn't the one who ordered it.

"But…These bloody events will not go without retaliation… we have been directly and violently attacked by a foreign power that still possesses means to attack citizens of the Coalition… so… as Commander and Chief of these United Islands I am declaring war against the terrorist organization known as the Red Skrill, thank you."

Mark waved as flashing cameras and a louder roar of questions was thrown at him, all of which he ignored as he stepped off stage and disappeared into Kavala City Hall, reporters swarming the entrance still trying to get a note from their tight-lipped leader.

It was ironic, another nation following in the footsteps of the United States vs the Taliban after the worst terrorist attack on American soil in history. But with the Coalition it was different than just throwing meat to the grinder and hoping it would finally jam.

You see when the small trio of islands was brought to this world all those years ago it lost it's one major feature that made the first few decades on this planet its own special form of hell. Satellite Communication. Without that, the three islands could not communicate properly and thus there were several decades of martial law enacted to keep the peace.

So came the era of space once again, an abandoned man-made island airstrip north of Malden becoming the hotspot for new and improved space travel. Rockets were designed and launched over the course of fifteen years once Zeus approved the idea and a suitable area was found.

But they did not just launch a couple communication satellites. The launched some military spec satellites which constantly fed the Coalition with data from around the world from both camera surveillance and on-the-ground communications with agents picked for this task.

This is what gave the Coalition the Advantage. They had a communication and spy grid more advanced than this entire planet had to offer. Information was what was going to win the Coalition the war.

Seven days after Zeus had declared war on the Red Skrill and began pouring all his available espionage assets into the field, Cinder and Emerald included, they had produced significant results. Namely the location of nearly if not all Red Skrill locations on Remnant.

Immediately the Third and Home fleet of the Coalition were supplied and launched in the nation's largest and most coordinated counterattack that had ever been executed.

Thirty ships, fifteen per fleet, both sent to two major bases on the map. The airstrip that the attack on Stratis was organized and launched as well as what appeared to be a recruitment and training camp south of Menagerie.

It took a full two days to send the fleets to their targets, four if you count for all the preparation and recalls that the navy command had to do. But it was no matter; both of the fleets were sights to behold and ones that were not going to go unnoticed by the locals of both areas.

The world was changing and was starting with a bang.

* * *

 **Kuo Kuana, Menagerie  
July 1st, 1212 Hours**

Blake had yet to find much on the artifact which plagued Ruby's mother, not many places had detailed books about the story and those that did never spoke of any way to remove the bracelet.

The cat Faunus sighed and closed her eyes in thought. Her parents tried to help, although they were hesitant when she said she could tell them why she needed to know about it, however even they couldn't turn up much about it.

So Blake was left scrounging around the market stalls of the small Faunus village, none of them having anything of use so far.

She looked at another stall nearby and walked up to it, the shopkeeper busy with another customer so he was unaware of her presence as she browsed the literature he had available. Of course, as she had expected, nothing here was what she was looking for… but she did linger on the new Ninjas of Love book longer than she was going to admit.

As she looked more deeply into what the stall had available, people around her started to gawk and point at something. She didn't notice, too engrossed in finding the information that she needed, but she soon began to notice when several more people began pointing, and even rushing past towards a gathering crowd on the other side of the square she was in. She twisted and turned, watching some of the people rush by.

"What's going on?" she offhandedly asked. A person slowed only for a moment and pointed off towards the horizon "There's strange ships heading for shore, ain't like anything I've seen!" the man said before rushing off again pass the crowd and to the port to get a better view.

Blake squinted off into the distance and saw what the man spoke about. Far off just cresting the horizon were massive ships, a whole fleet's worth, all on a course for the continent.

Blake's eyes went wide. She knew those ships; she had seen them briefly in her trip back from Altis, their design was unmistakable. They were warships, all of them.

Was this an attack on her home? Had Yang been right in not trusting Mark?

Just as that thought passed through her head she caught a glint of something in the sky and looked up only for something large and loud to roar above the city, forcing her and everyone around to duck and scream. Several people dove for cover, into buildings as shortly after two more of the same type of craft flew overhead again at a low altitude.

Blake's breathing quickened and she turned back to the ships as they steadily got larger and larger. What was going on!?

She then heard an explosion to the south and turned to see the three fast flying machines veer from the ground and go airborne again, a plume of smoke rising steadily into the sky far to the south Kuo Kuana.

She couldn't figure out what was going on, she needed answers so she resorted to running, running back to her house.

The large castle resembling building was on full alert, the guards taking up defensive positions with the little armaments they had and turning to the skies, Blake's father out in front also looking up. No doubt he was trying to figure out what was going on, Blake knew that for certain.

Ghira's gaze fell on his daughter as she approached and he voiced his concern "Blake! What is happening!? Do you know what is going on!?"

Sadly the Faunus in question could not give her father a good answer "I have no idea, just get inside. I'm trying to figure it out."

"How!?"

"It's hard to explain, I'll tell you later, just get inside!" Blake retorted, dodging past her father and inside, brushing past her mother in a dead sprint for her room. Once she was in there she scrambled around looking for the one thing here that would give her answers. "Where is it, where is it!" she said to herself.

Of course, worried, her parents followed her to her room and stopped at the door, watching her go through her stuff. "Honey what are you looking for?" her mother asked, her tone betraying her worried state.

Blake ignored her mother finally pulling a box out from under her bed where she use to keep… certain things and pried the lid open, the only thing in there being the satellite phone that Mark gave to her. "Found it."

Ghira and Khali looked at each other and back to their daughter confused, even more so when she flipped out the antenna and dialed a number.

After a painstakingly long time, there was an answer, it wasn't Mark, however.

"Division of Communications, how may I direct your call."

"Hi yes, I need to speak to Mark, it's urgent, something is wrong," Blake said to the woman who picked up, her voice shaking in panic.

"I'm sorry, but may I ask who is speaking?" The woman on the line asked.

"Blake, what is going on? What are you doing and what kind of phone even is that?!" Ghira asked, his patience growing thin.

Blake groaned "Not now Dad, just hang on one more minute."

Just then the aircraft from earlier made another pass overhead, the screams of the engines rattling the house. "Oum above!" Ghira scream, pulling his wife close protectively, Khali latching onto him.

Blake focused back on the phone "Is everything alright miss?" the woman on the line asked.

"No! Get me Marcus, NOW!" Blake screamed into the receiver, the woman on the other end wincing at the harshness of the tone, but nevertheless complying.

"I'm patching you to him now."

* * *

 **-Meanwhile in Kavala-**

Mark was in his war room at his office in Kavala coordinating with his staff and a handful of Generals making decisions about how to go about the next phase of what was being popularly dubbed Operation: Red Kill by military staff. So far the First and Home fleet were executing their task on schedule, no doubt riling up the locals a bit with their fireworks.

I mean, the Home Fleet has an active Iowa-class battleship that was bought from the Americans before they could scrap it. Its cannons were no doubt scorching earth at the sight that the Red Skrill used to house those Frogfoots.

Reports were good; the fleets were in position and beginning mission, bringing forth a special kind of Hell to those that did their home wrong. However, Marcus wasn't expecting this.

"Sir, a phone call for you." One of the aides said, holding out a phone for Zeus to take.

Mark gave the woman a confused look "From who?"

"We don't know, but it sounds like she is in a war zone."

Now further confused, Mark brought the phone up "Hello? This is Chief Marcus Harrison; may I ask who is speaking?"

"MARCUS, What in the name of the creator is happening!" a familiar voice yelled at him from the other line.

Mark had to pull the phone away from his head to avoid losing his hearing. Serval of the others in the room looked up in shock and stared at him and the phone. Mark held up a finger "I'll… be right back." And like that he was in the hall with the phone back to his ear.

"Miss Belladonna, are you trying to make me deaf?" Mark asked, unamused.

"I don't care, I want to know why there are warships on my shores and strange aircraft flying at ludicrous speeds over my home." Blake punctuated her words when she said home.

"Oh… that. Yes, sorry we didn't inform you. There was an attack on our homeland. A lot of people got hurt in the attack... Those responsible have an encampment south of Kuo Kuana which we are targeting." Mark said solemnly.

"And what gi-"

"Yang is in a coma…" Mark interrupted.

"…what?" Blake said voice now hollow.

"Somehow they located the base where Ruby was being treated… they assaulted it to try and capture Summer… Yang was caught in the crossfire and suffered internal bleeding. She's lucky to be alive." Mark said, his voice giving away how he truly felt.

He was still beating himself up about it, blaming himself even though he could have never known it was going to happen. He felt responsible for it, how could he not after promising them all that they would be safe here. That was a promise that he broke. Now he was going to have to live with it.

"Will… will she be alright?" Blake asked, sounding on the verge of tears.

"We believe so… but we are still finding bits of shrapnel from the bullet in her system and her Aura makes surgery complex because it keeps sealing her back up after a short period."

There was silence on the other side, Blake not saying a single word.

Khali and Ghira starred at their daughter who had a haunted look while she stared blankly at the wall.

"…Listen, the operation will be over soon. Once the bombing run is complete a sweep team will be sent in and a single recon squad will do a fly by and locate the complex they have in town… as a courtesy, we will leave them to you… if you want the recon team to stop by and pick you up so you can see her."

"…Please do…" was all Blake said.

Mark said nothing and ended the call already back on the phone to get in contact with the Marine commander on the _Liberator_ to relay his orders.

Blake turned to her parents with a hurt look, on the border of breaking down. Khali's motherly instincts kicked in and she went over to her daughter and hugged her close. Ghira kept his distance.

He already knew what he wanted to know anyway, he could hear the other man speaking over the phone, and his wife heard the same.

Blake's friend was hurt badly…

And even as the sound of copious amounts of heavy helicopters flew overhead to the rising smoke in the south they sat in that room comforting their child.

All Blake could do was cry.

* * *

 **16 nautical miles offshore, South Anima Continent**  
 **July 1st, 1208 Hours**

Before the operation on Menagerie even began, the operation on the hostile Red Skrill airfield was in effect. The airfield was on a largely uninhabited island that was a part of the Anima continent. It was a significantly large airfield, however, it was hastily created which meant that it wasn't an old base.

It was probably constructed only weeks before the siege on Stratis began; this was good, that meant that the defenses were lackluster at best and should be easy enough to penetrate and obliterate. Especially for the christened ship _Malden's Pride_ the US Iowa-class Battleship retrofitted with the latest technology. While she was an old ship that couldn't be used much anymore, she was a reliable ship.

The sixteen-inch guns could not be beaten when it came to shore bombardment. While Cruise missiles and other forms of guided munitions were good, artillery bombardment, especially that of 406mm shells. The triple barrel gunhouses were unbeatable in sheered and ungodly hellfire.

And here the _Malden's Pride_ over fifteen miles offshore with a full broadside prepared for firing, all her escort ships slowly getting into range with their own weapons, as well as the _Freedom_ , preparing a wing of A-10s for CAS runs.

 **T** he base had seen them coming already and was preparing their jets for a counter attack, some already spooling their thrusters on the landing strip.

The Russian designed planes would never get the chance to strike back against the fleet.

There was a pause. A single moment were all sound ceased. The sound of the gulls died out, the sounds of distant waves crashing on shore vanished, and the creak of the ships in the softly lolling water was no more. Just blank, peaceful, silence.

And then, the spotter for one of the guns screamed "FIIIIIRE!"

And more joined in, gun commanders, loaders, Cruise missile designators, all screaming or saying the same simple word in a symphony of accents and voices all around the fleet.

Then… the sound of an unholy can of whoop-ass opening shattered the silence and the eardrums of any poor bastard not wearing ear protection.

The sky lit up with the muzzle flashes of hundreds of naval guns and smoke trails of missiles launching into the sky. It was only a second before the first projectile hit its mark, a single shell from the _Malden's Pride_ smacking into the ground at near terminal velocity, its payload detonating.

It had hit the jet that was just about to take off, reducing the once pristine aircraft into a wrought pile of twisted and melted slag, the fuel bursting into flames and spreading out over a large area, some splashing on some poor souls who weren't killed in the shockwave.

Then more and more munitions impacted and destroyed chunks of the base on contact, those not getting caught in the blast getting utterly destroyed by the wing of A-10s whose precision tank shredders made quick work of anything left.

When the smoke did clear after numerous other attacks and gun runs on targets of the base the admiral in charge of the fleet, an aging woman who had served under Zeus for years, smiled happily in victory. All that was left of their so-called base was a blasted Hell that would have made No-mans-land look like a playground.

In only a short few minutes of constant shore bombardment and precision hits the mission was complete and their stocks on ammunition and supplies was only barely tapped into. They had enough to completely destroy several more baes like this one with the same ferocity as they did here.

And so, that is exactly what they set out to do.

As per the orders that were given to them by Zeus they were to alter course and make way on the west side of the Sanus continent and target the base they had built to the East of Vale and North of Mountain Glen. They already know they were gonna have to piss off the locals. It was a given at this point.

It was a necessary sacrifice to bring an end to all this, however. The Red Skrill has been terrorizing the world for too long and it's time to put a stop to it. Even if it means pissing off a few tourists in the process.

* * *

 **Kavala, Altis  
July 2nd, 1003 Hours**

It was day eight of the 'Great War' against the terrorist and things were going swimmingly. Yes, casualties were bad; Yang having to take a bullet, as well the thousands killed on Stratis being another thing altogether. However, estimated enemy casualties are in the tens of thousands and we have completely denied them any area access by obliterating every scrap of land.

In about another day or two, the first fleet would reach its intended target and initiate its next mission, no doubt poking the beehive that was Vale in the process. Lord knows that Zeus was going to have the governments of this world crawling up his ass as soon as this was all over, however he believes he can handle it… at least for a little while.

Right now, Mark was busy focusing on a different matter.

The matter of Summer and that godforsaken killer bracelet on her wrist.

Blake had gathered all she could on the lore of the bracelet, still as she said; it had nothing on removing the damnable thing.

This only piled on the problems which he was having trouble focusing on.

He sighed and then there was a knock at the door. "Enter…" Mark drawled.

In came his secretary Miss Sung "Chief Harrison?"

"Yes Hue?"

"I… I was just wondering if there's anything you needed…" Hue offered, and Mark shook his head, leaning back and letting out an exasperated sigh. "I'm exhausted… and I already drained my secret brandy bottle…"

"Well… you seemed stressed… maybe talking about it could help somehow?" Hue asked.

Mark didn't say anything for a moment but leaned forward and nodded "Alright, I'll share, you have security clearance anyways…" the man gestured to the chair in front of him "Please sit, there's no need to stand like that."

Miss Sung sat in the offered chair and adjusted herself to make her more comfortable.

"So… What is the problem, sir?"

Mark chuckled "Ok, first, lose the formalities… I'm in no mood for them." Mark said lightheartedly "I get you're trying to be professional, but you and I already do things that are less than professional. I appreciate it, but now I just don't feel like it."

The Faunus nodded and Mark let out a breath "Well… where to start."

And so Mark talked. And that's all he did. All calls were ignored and all attempts to interrupt him from the outside were met with executive orders to go bother someone else.

Right now Mark wasn't the leader of his nation, but a man just talking about the problems in his life. He spent hours just talking to Hue, the woman occasionally offering support or asking questions when something confused her.

He just poured out everything he had on his chest in one go for everyone to see… well, for Miss Sung to see, but still.

And through it, all the kind woman sat and listened to him and his troubles, a large part of her feeling bad for him. He was one man with the weight of an entire world on his shoulders and it was taking its toll on him she could tell.

However, something interesting caught her attention when she finally took notice of all the books from Menagerie on his desk "Um… pardon me, Mark… but what are these books for? They look old…" she asked.

"Hmm?" Mark looked down "Oh! Those… yeah, they're for a person who is currently trapped in an ancient bracelet that we can't remove. A bracelet, no less, that can kill everyone that gets near it."

"Wait… you mean the Bracelet of the Faunus?"

"Wait, that's what it's called?"

Miss Sung nodded "How do you know that?" Mark asked her.

"Well, it's a tale passed down from my family for generations. The Bracelet of the Faunus, a weapon nobody should control for it may bring darkness across the world. Only one with true unabridged power can remove the bracelet or so the tale in my family goes."

Mark stared at her for a solid five seconds before he suddenly and violently smacked his head against the table "OF COURSE ITS THAT BLOODY SIMPLE!" he yelled into the hardwood.

Hue had jumped back at the sudden display and scooted back a bit. "Um… what do you mean?"

"What you said, 'only one with true unabridged power' all this time Summer could have taken the damn thing off herself!"

"Wait… how?" Hue asked, now confused.

"It's simple, Summer is a Silver-Eyed Huntress, the most fabled and powerful of all Huntresses on Remnant as my research says…"

Hue made an O with her mouth and nodded like she understood but in reality, she didn't.

Mark allowed himself to facepalm "All this time and we never asked the poor woman if she could just take it off herself… damn, I'm an idiot."

"You're not an idiot, Mark… you just overthought it is all… apparently, a lot of people did. It's ok now at least."

"… _sigh_ I guess you're right… but still… a lot of people died because of that fucking thing…"

"I understand that… but look on the bright side, at least now it's over." Hue said, placing her hand on top of Mark's.

The man in question nodded slowly, a forlorn look in his eye. He looked up at hue who had a sweet smile and then did something spontaneous. He kissed her.

It was a sweet and loving kiss, passionate and sweet.

When Mark pulled away, Hue's face has tinted a red… hue. "That… what…"

"Thank you… you've helped me a lot today… and not with just figuring out what to do… I'm glad you listened to me and my ranting…" Mark spoke in a heartfelt tone.

Hue's face changed to one of understanding and content, smiling "it was my pleasure si-… Marcus… sadly we can't stay this way for long, I'm sure you have important matters now that you found out about that…"

"Yes… but don't worry, tonight we will celebrate. I'm making Beef Bistro, your favorite." Mark said with a smile.

Hue's face lit up and she hugged him from across the table "Thanks…"

"Anything for you."

Hue smiled and soon left, blowing a kiss at Mark who caught it and sent back his own. Now it was off to see about that evil bracelet and to finally destroy it for good.

* * *

 **Conclusion**

And now, finally, we are brought to the conclusion of this long story whose plot points are practically scattered like a shotgun blast.

While some of the loose ends can be tied up in small chapters of their own, it would be a moot point given that they are only minor in comparison to the main plot. Nevertheless, I will tell you the events preceding the 'end' of this tale.

In regards to the war, it was a total success. Further missions against the Red Skrill were executed flawlessly and in a similar manner to the recruitment center and the airfield that attacked Stratis. Casualties minus the initial attack on Stratis were minor at best, only a few dozen from stragglers in the remains of camps ambushing unsuspecting soldiers.

POWs were later tried and either arrested and paroled under Coalition security while others were found guilty of more heinous crimes and thus executed under the direct order of Zeus.

The number executed was small and only included several of the more ruthless and dangerous commanders. The one captured during the secret facility's retake was one of those pardoned, although he is under permanent house arrest.

The self-proclaimed leader of the Red Skrill was among the few that were executed for their crimes.

Summer Rose did, in fact, remove the bracelet herself in a sealed environment where thereafter the offending piece of metal from Hell itself was taken by a security team and subsequently destroyed, the molten slag that remained of it being deposited in a toxic waste site.

After the deadly piece of jewelry was removed, Summer and her daughter remained while Blake and Weiss returned under the direct protection of Zeus this time to await her recovery. It took some time and some ingenuity but the shrapnel was finally removed and Yang made a full and healthy recovery, only a scar remaining on her torso.

Later the team would return to their homes and be reunited with their families, however, now all leaving the island would be alone. SDC was seized by the Coalition when it was found out that Jacques Schnee had supplied the Red Skrill with the factories capable of manufacturing the stolen hardware from Stratis.

He was tried and his inheritance was passed to Weiss after Zeus signed off the final investigation report. Jacques (being a previously respected high-class citizen) was luckily spared from the same treatment as the other POWs. However, he was still fined and arrested for ties with a known terrorist organization by General Ironwood of Atlas and now sits in a military prison awaiting trial.

After the news that she was free from her father's scrutiny and forcefulness, she came out to Ruby before they left Altis and Ruby reciprocated, Zeus describing the scene as an over-excited dog suddenly tackling their master. The pure look of elation on both their faces was something Zeus will not soon forget.

Speaking of the Coalition's leader, Zeus was forgiven by Summer and Yang, the latter saying that the man had helped her family as well as her in a time of need and the former finally starting to trust him and thanking him for saving her life. Yang actually hugged the man as opposed to shaking his hand when offered.

Blake was happy to see everyone she cared about ok, in the end, thanking Zeus personally and offering him a traditional Faunus forged blade as a thank you, a Menagerie tradition. Zeus politely denied, told her that without her help in diagnosing the blight that plagued Summer they would have never found a cure.

As soon as they returned, Zeus was left to pick up the mess he started, holding a worldwide broadcasted press conference explaining the events of the war and the reasons it was declared, the entire thing including images of a broken and twisted Stratis, including pictures the civilians that weren't lucky enough to make it to the boats.

In the end, the backlash wasn't as severe as Zeus had predicted. At worst he could call it a slap on the wrist by them, mainly because (and nobody on remnant was willing to admit it) they feared what the man's army was capable of and didn't want to end up a target.

All in all, it was a decent ending to a war-torn and fucked up tale. Summer got to go home, Zeus and the coalition revealed themselves and were accepted by Remnant to a degree, and the Red Skrill was officially dead.

All the world had to worry about no were the Grimm and the White Fang, things that Zeus was already putting plans into play to fix. It would take a few years and a whole hell of a lot of resources, but Zeus believed he could finally bring this world to the everlasting peace that everyone desires.

Thank you all for reading my story, a test to see if I could write such a tale. It took grit and determination to finally get this finished and over with, but I thank you all for sticking through to the end and finishing it with me. I think this test was a success; however it was a rough and rocky road from the very beginning, still, and I like the end result. But do not worry; more like this story are in the mix, stories which will be more polished and better written than this. You just have to be patient. But anyway, thank you all again. This is Guardian Alpha, signing off.

The End.


	7. Final Note

**A final note to all those who stuck with me to the end. I know a few of you wished to have a longer story, trust me, I did too. However, this was never meant to be an exorbitantly long story. I set a goal, four chapters or so and something like twelve thousand words** ** _at the max_** **. This story is nearly quadruple the number of words.**

 **But this is not about that. I AM NOT DONE WITH THIS.**

 **In the beginning, I told you all that this was a test story, something to wet my whistle a bit before I just simply blindly dove into a new and unseen type of story writing. The only thing that has come close to this sort of thing is the ever popular Gamer genre of Fanfics out there, something I am playing on and molding to my liking.**

 **I want the end result to be entertaining and inviting to people, not words I mind-numbingly vomited on a page at night. I mean God, halfway through writing this I forgot the full name of the nation I created and couldn't find it again.**

 **Anyway. Soon a new chapter to the ZEUS genre will appear on RWBY, one that (so far) spans two 'books' and has multiple little easter eggs from games we have all at least heard of (no spoilers) and as an added bonus it will break away from the main RWBY storyline. This makes it to where I can easily update and continue the story without having to wait for the next Volume to come out.**

 **Now that that is all out of the way I want to thank all of you who even opened this story to take a glance and a big thank you to those that followed and favorited the story.**

 **I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.**

 **~Guardian Alpha**


End file.
